Making ice cream at home is not as difficult as it might seem, especially if you are faced with such a task for the first time.
Now on sale you can find a lot of devices designed specifically for making ice cream at home – from an electric ice cream maker that kneads and cools ice cream by itself, to silicone molds and special storage containers.
Even ice cream on a stick or ice cream in the form of a cake or cake – at home it is possible to cook all types that are sold in stores.
In addition, homemade ice cream turns out to be tastier and healthier than store-bought, and we know exactly its composition and the quality of the products from which it is made.
While in store-bought ice cream you can find flavor fixatives, colors, dyes, preservatives and other non-natural ingredients.
Many of those who have tried to make ice cream on their own do not stop at one recipe and continue their experiments with flavors and fillings.
Having a special ice cream maker at home is not necessary, but desirable (this device can greatly simplify preparation and do all the work for you).
Of the necessary tools, most often it is enough to have a blender for grinding and an electric whisk for whipping cream. And if you don’t have silicone molds on hand, you can use disposable paper cups.
What is an ice cream maker and can you make ice cream without it?
In fact, a household ice cream maker is a device that can simultaneously freeze and mix the contents until the desired consistency is obtained.
The ice cream maker performs two functions at the same time – it breaks ice crystals and freezes the mass, which is why ice cream from an ice cream maker turns out to be very tender and tasty. To achieve the same effect without a special unit most often does not work.
There are two types of ice cream makers: automatic and semi-automatic. Both of them have a mixing paddle and a bowl with a special inner coating, which is filled with ice cream mixture.
The inconvenience of semi-automatic models is that they have a removable bowl, which must be sent to the freezer for at least 8 hours before use – after that, ice cream can be kneaded in it.
The automatic ice cream maker saves you from having to freeze your bowl as it has a built-in freezer that freezes and kneads at the same time.
If you have no desire to buy an ice cream maker and do not want to spend time and money on it, then there are many ways for you to make delicious ice cream by hand, using only an electronic whisk (and sometimes you can even do without it).
Most likely, you will not be able to achieve the same effect as when using an ice cream maker, but this does not mean that delicious homemade ice cream is not available to you!
You can also use a recipe that uses an ice cream maker, but instead of using an ice cream maker, you will have to remove the ice cream container from the freezer every 15-20 minutes for the first two hours and stir constantly.
Next, you will need to continue mixing, but a little less often, and after 5 – 6 hours, leave the ice cream to solidify completely.
How to understand that homemade ice cream turned out?
Proper ice cream should have a dense, uniform texture, be moderately soft, have a uniform color without blotches (before pieces of fruit or other additives are added to it), ice cream should not contain ice crystals and fatty lumps (this is the problem that the ice cream maker solves).
Liquid syrups should be added to the mixture before freezing, but pieces of fruit, candied fruits, nuts, chocolate or wafer crumbs – after the start of freezing, but until final stabilization, that is, somewhere in the middle of the way.
How to thicken homemade ice cream?
As natural thickeners for homemade ice cream, heavy fat cream 35%, egg yolks (usually without proteins) are used, sometimes agar-agar or starch and even gelatin are added. The taste and texture of ice cream largely depend on the fat content and quality of the selected products.
Basic homemade ice cream recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream maker
The simple ratio of three ingredients, properly combined with each other, will give you the texture and taste of delicious homemade ice cream, which can be supplemented with any flavors, sauces, chocolate, berries, nuts or spreads.
You will need:
- Heavy cream 35%
- Condensed milk
- Vanilla paste or vanilla pod
From these ingredients you will get a basic vanilla cream ice cream.
It is necessary to whip very cold heavy cream to the most dense consistency, then add condensed milk and vanilla paste to it, mix everything with a spatula – you’re done!
Now the base for ice cream needs to be frozen for at least 8 hours. You can freeze in a metal container, glass or paper cups.
What can be added to basic ice cream? Proven combinations:
- Strawberries and white chocolate.
- Lime juice and zest, white chocolate, your favorite cookie crumbs.
- Chopped mint leaves, mint extract, dark chocolate.
- Nuts and salted caramel.
- Cocoa powder, pecans and caramel.
- Nuts and M&M’s
- Nut pastes, honey and banana.
