Ice cream recipes - post them here

It's going to hit 100 F again this week where I live.

Is anybody making theit own ice cream? And would like to post their recipes here?

I mostly use the recipes that came with the freezer.  One I made up on my own, that happens to be vegan:

I large avocado
Juice of several key limes
1 can coconut milk (not lowfat)
1/2 to 1 cup simple syrup.

Puree it all and either freeze as popsicles or as ice cream.

Play with proportions to get your desired texture and sweetness.

I love ice cream, looking forward to recipes and maybe some tips on how to do it. it is so hard to find truly all natural ice cream. ben and Jerrys is very good but the ingredients include gum, whatever that is.
I  can settle for 2 tablespoons of an all natural organic ice cream rather than a bowl full  of any of the big popular brands.

Mk Neal wrote:

....Play with proportions to get your desired texture and sweetness.

Mk Neal.....interesting.  Is there a reason why you use 'simple syrup' instead of sugar and just adding water?  Do you feel that the sugar would not dissolve properly?  
Still having some frustrations getting the right texture without it being overly sweet.  It sounds like sugar(s) are the main way to depress the freezing point of ice cream and I haven't pushed it to the limit, but my ice cream is still pretty rock hard after freezing a few days.  During the initial freeze, I try to stir it up several times as it slowly is getting thicker and harder, trying to keep everything emulsified.  I've seen everything from ethyl alcohol to glycerol used to depress the freezing temperature, but have not had too much success without going overboard with any one of these constituents.  My standard vegan ice cream base is almond/cashew home-made 'cream' blended with sugar.....in a Vitamix the blending of the nuts and water gets warm enough to dissolve the sugar (sucrose) quite well.  Then some liquified coconut oil is blended in along with some vanilla if desired.  Relative to whipping cream, it's pretty thick at this point and is poured to a container that can be sealed for freezing.   Best turnout so far was to mix this 'base' 1:1 with mango chunks and mango juice.  Perhaps the added fruit solids and fructose aided in keeping this concoction and bit more smooth and less hard in the freezer?....

John Weiland wrote:

Mk Neal wrote:

....Play with proportions to get your desired texture and sweetness.

Mk Neal.....interesting.  Is there a reason why you use 'simple syrup' instead of sugar and just adding water?  Do you feel that the sugar would not dissolve properly?  

I think the syrup freezes smoother than plain sugar water.  You get a higher sugar-to-water ratio by heating into a syrup, so no big ice crystals forming. It's why sorbets use syrup.

It is hard to get the commercial ice creams texture we are used to when making ice cream at home, though. You need an ice cream freezer or other means of stirring the mixture while it freezes.  Even with an ice cream freezer my batches are still not as "scoopable" as store-bought usually.

does anyone make with milk cream sugar eggs, vanilla?

saw this on another post and never thought there would be eggs in ice cream

bruce Fine wrote:does anyone make with milk cream sugar eggs, vanilla?

saw this on another post and never thought there would be eggs in ice cream

Yes, the addition of egg yolk is at least one difference between 'standard' vanilla ice cream and 'French vanilla' ice cream.  I've made some batches with egg without separating out the yolk.  It was pretty good, but not enough for me to do this with all vanilla batches.

Mk Neal wrote:......You need an ice cream freezer or other means of stirring the mixture while it freezes.  Even with an ice cream freezer my batches are still not as "scoopable" as store-bought usually.

Thanks for the tip on the sugar syrup!   Yes, I was beginning to realize that the churning to get the small ice crystals may be more important than originally realized.  That, and the issue of freezer temperature.  Back to the drawing board this weekend..... ;-)

My homemade ice cream recipe is 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup sugar, honey or maple syrup, 4 egg yolks and then the flavoring/add-ins of your choice. Essentially you just make a custard tempering in the egg yolks, cook to 170F, cool, refrigerate overnight, then churn. Messing with the sugar content will definitely effect the texture.

Some of my favorite ice creams are blackberry, cinnamon and black walnut, meyer lemon with a jam swirl, and ginger with candied ginger bits. I had a olive oil with salted almond ice cream years ago and have been trying to replicate it with no such luck. If anyone has a recipe for something like that I would love it.

As a side note, gums are not always "unnatural". Guar gum comes from a legume, and it's vegan.

I generally avoid single purpose appliances like the plague, but I absolutely loved my yonanas machine. It turns frozen banana into the perfect ice cream texture. We no longer have a freezer and I really miss my ice cream. I used to eat some pretty much every day.
Some combinations I liked, all banana based:
Strawberry peanut butter
Strawberry with toasted nuts and seeds
Plum cinnamon
Walnut cinnamon
Apple walnut
Chocolate mint (sprinkle carob/cocoa powder and mint extract over bananas before running them through the machine)

This is my go to recipe for ice cream--it is technically a frozen mousse, as you do not need to churn it.  It stays very fluffy in the freezer for several days after (but doesn't usually last that long in our house).  You will want an electric mixer for this, preferably a stand mixer.  It can be done by hand but expect a sore elbow by the end!

3 egg whites, at room temperature
6-8 oz sugar (by weight)
8-12 fluid oz heavy cream (you can play around with this, using even more or less as your tastes prefer)
Flavouring of choice (mashed/pureed fruit, vanilla extract, crushed cookies, let your imagination run wild)
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-Whip the egg whites to soft peaks.
-Put the sugar in a saucepan and cover with a few tablespoons of water.  Cook on very high heat without stirring until it reaches 250F/120C (this is the hard ball stage of cooked sugar, please read my note below*)
-With the beaters turned on high, gradually pour the hot cooked sugar syrup into the eggs whites, in a slow but steady stream.  Keep beating till the mixture cools to room temperature, usually for about five minutes;  you've just made Italian meringue!
-When the meringue is fully cooled, set it aside and whip the cream to soft peaks.  This can be done in the same bowl with the same beaters without needing to fully clean them (note, the egg whites cannot be treated the same way--if there is a speck of fat in the bowl or on the beaters they will not beat into peaks).
-Gently fold the flavouring into the meringue, and then fold in the cream.  Freeze and enjoy.
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*About cooking sugar past the boiling point of water:  it sounds scary and technical but really isn't!  I don't use a thermometer or even do the old-fashioned hard ball test (drop a spoonful in a glass of water and then form it into a ball with your fingers).  Here's what I look out for:
-The syrup will boil furiously for a little while, emitting plenty of steam
-The steam will gradually get lighter and suddenly the bubbles will go from very small to uniformly medium-sized.  I liken it to going volcanic
-After this point, it starts to smell like cooked sugar:  like caramel corn, or cotton candy/candy floss.  Use it now!
-If you carry on cooking from here, after a little while the sugar will start to go a bit darker and caramelize.  You can still use it at this stage;  it will taste different but will still work perfectly fine.  However, once it starts to colour, you definitely want to use it immediately.  Go much beyond this point and it will simply burn
-(If it burns, let it cool in the pan, fill it with warm water, and let it soak.  It will dissolve and you can clean it out and start over)