Homemade Ice Cream Recipes and Tips for Making Ice Cream the Easy Way!

Try our easy homemade ice cream recipes without an ice cream maker. Time to use your excess milk, cream and garden fruits for delicious summer desserts. We also give you tips on how to make ice cream. It's not as difficult as you think, a lot cheaper than the commercial version, and a lot more delicious too!

And I am sure that you have some wonderful childhood memory tucked away in the back of your mind of your first ice cream eating experience, or perhaps a favorite flavor. 

As a child, I suppose I was a little different to most, because I actually wasn't very fond of ice cream. It wasn't until I was an adult in my 30s and visiting Italy for the first time, that I fell in love with ice cream. Gelato is the absolute king of ice creams; bursting with flavor, deliciously creamy. I cannot go past a gelato shop without having to try what is on offer.

And if you ever get to Perugia, in Umbria, look for the gelato shop on the approach to the square, way before the Palazzo on the left hand side and get what the call the 300.

I have traveled many miles each summer when I am in Italy just for this devine ice cream; chocolate based, and filled with glaced cherries, raisins, nuts and other delectable delights.

Short History of Ice Cream

It is said that ices were first introduced by Catherine de Medici in the 16th century. At that time, only water ices were known. These were probably sherbet recipes brought back from the Middle Eastern region from early explorations.

It was about this time that the French learned to freeze water artificially and water ices shaped in molds were first served in France in 1660.  Soon after this they were introduced into England.

When the pilgrims came to America, it was the Quakers who brought their ice cream recipes with them.

Sorbet, Sherbet, Gelato, Kulfi and Ice Cream Recipes

So what is the difference between the 3? Well, although they are all frozen desserts, there is differently a difference.

Sorbets

Sorbets don't usually contain milk products, but rather fruit juices and or sugar and syrup that is then frozen. Sorbet freezes a lot harder than ice cream so that you will need to remove it from the freezer about 10 minutes before serving.

Sherbet

Sherbet is similar to sorbet but the only difference is that it contains milk or cream. But basically it is just pureed fruit with the milk or cream and then frozen.

Gelato

Gelato is an Italian ice cream that traditionally contains egg yolks, although not always. It is a very dense ice cream, with less air in the mixture, which makes it more flavorful through its density.

Kulfi

Kulfi is a popular South Asian ice cream traditionally made from boiled buffalo's milk. It is a lot smoother, richer in taste, and creamier than western ice cream.

Ice Cream

Finally, ice cream is made from cream and sugar, sometimes egg yolks and can contain fruit as well. When making ice cream at home you will find that those ice cream recipes that use egg yolks are more complicated than those recipes that don't. One can thank the Quakers for bringing ice cream to America.

Tips for your Homemade Ice Cream Recipes

Tips for Using Fruit in Ice Creams

• Use fresh fruits in the summer and the best canned unsweetened fruits in the winter.
• If sweetened fruits must be used, cut down the given quantity of sugar.
• Sour fruits should be added to the cream after it is frozen. Raspberries, lemons and oranges make better water ices than ice creams.
• Fruit juices should never be cooked with the cream, but should be mixed with the sugar, stirred into a clear syrup, and added to the ice cold cream before freezing, or, better still, when half frozen.

Tips for Freezing Times for your Ice Cream Recipes

For those of you who have ice cream makers these recipes will be easy to make. For those of you who don't have ice cream making machines, you can place the ice cream in a plastic container in the deep freeze and every half hour or so pull it out and beat it until it is well set.

Homemade ice cream made with our easy ice cream recipes

Easy Ice Cream Recipes

Classic Vanilla Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream recipes come and go, but there are always classics that last the test of time, and this is one of them. It is also the basis for any variation of ice cream that you would like to make in the future.
1 1/2 cups  heavy cream
1 1/2 cups full cream milk
3/4 sugar
1 vanilla bean pod
6 egg yolks
pinch of salt

Put the cream, milk and 1/2 cup of the sugar into a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Split the vanilla bean lenthways, remove the seeds and place the pods into the milk.  Simmer the milk over a medium heat sirring all the time in a figure 8 making sure that you don't scorch the milk, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and place egg yolks, and the rest of the sugar and the salt into a mixing bowl and whisk the yolks until they are thick and pale yellow.

Gradually add 1 ladle of hot milk mixture into the yolks, whisking all the time. Then add the yolk mixture into the warm milk mixture. Place back on the stove on a very low heat and cook until the mixture forms a custard, stirring all the time.

The custard should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This can take up to 10 - 12 minutes to occur. Make sure the mixture doesn't boil as it will curdle.

Remove the custard from the heat. Now place the custard into a bowl and place this bowl into another bowl filled with crushed ice. Contine stirring until the custard has cooled down.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 4 hours, although can also be left overnight. After the 4 hours, remove vanilla bean pods and discard.

Turn custard into a plastic container and place in the deep freeze. Check until just at turn of freezing, fork through, and mix, before freezing again.

Variations:

Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream: Omit the vanilla bean pod. Add 1/2 cup crushed chocolate peppermint crunch and add to the custard before placing in freezer.

Strawberry Ice Cream: Omit the vanilla bean pod. Add 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries to the custard just before placing in freezer.

Blueberry Ice Cream: Omit the vanilla bean pod. Add 1 1/2 cups blueberries to the custard just before placing in freezer.

Another Homemade Vanilla Recipe

1 pint of cream

1 pint of milk

1/2 pound of sugar

3 eggs

1/4 vanilla bean or a teaspoonful of good extract

Put the milk over a medium heat in a double boiler, and add the vanilla bean, split. Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar until light, add the whites beaten to a stiff froth, and stir into them the hot milk. Return the mixture to the double boiler and cook until it begins to thicken, or will coat a knife blade dipped into it. Remove from heat, strain through a colander, and, when cold, add the cream, and freeze. Repack and stand to ripen for three hours or longer.

This will serve eight persons.

Camilla Ice Cream Recipes

Camilla Ice Cream Recipe 1

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Put four tablespoonfuls of the sugar in an iron frying pan over a medium heat, shake until the sugar melts, turns brown, smokes and burns; add quickly a half cupful of water; let it boil a minute, remove from heat, and put it, with all the sugar and half the cream, in a double boiler over a low heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from stove, and, when cold, add the remaining cream and vanilla, and freeze.

This quantity will serve six persons.

Camilla Ice Cream Recipe 2

1 quart of cream

1 pint of milk

1/2 cupful of brown sugar

1/2 pound of granulated sugar

2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla

Put the brown sugar in a frying pan over a medium heat, shake it until it melts, burns and smokes. Remove it from the stove and add two tablespoonfuls of water; heat until the sugar is again melted, put it in a double boiler with the milk and all the sugar, stir until the sugar is dissolved, and stand aside to cool. When cold, add half the cream and the vanilla, and freeze.

When frozen sufficiently stiff, stir in the remaining pint of cream whipped to a stiff froth, repack and freeze for three hours.

This quantity will serve ten persons.

Caramel Ice Cream

1 pint of cream

1 pint of milk

1/2 pound of sugar

4 eggs

3 tablespoonfuls of caramel

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Beat the yolks of the eggs until creamy and add the sugar; beat until light, and then add the well-beaten whites of the eggs. Put the milk over a medium heat in a double boiler; when hot, add the eggs, and stir and cook until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat, strain through a fine sieve, add the vanilla and caramel, and, when cold, add the cream, and freeze.

This will serve ten persons.

Chocolate Ice Cream Recipes

Chocolate Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1 pint of milk

1/2 pound of sugar

4 ounces of chocolate

1 teaspoonful of vanilla or 1/4 of a vanilla bean 

1/4 of a teaspoonful of cinnamon

Grate the chocolate, put it in a double boiler with the milk; stir until hot, and add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and one pint of the cream. When cold, freeze; when frozen, break up with a spoon, and stir in the remaining pint of the cream whipped to a stiff froth.

Serves 10

Chocolate Ice Cream  Recipe 2

1 pint of cream

1 pint of milk

1/2 pound of sugar

4 eggs

2 ounces of chocolate

1 small piece of stick cinnamon

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Put the milk and cinnamon over the fire in a double boiler. Beat the yolks of the eggs and sugar until very light, add the well-beaten whites, and stir this into the hot milk. As soon as the mixture begins to thicken, take it from the fire, add the grated chocolate, and, when cold, add the cream and the vanilla. Freeze.

This is sufficient to serve ten persons.

Coffee Ice Cream Recipes

Coffee Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of pulverized sugar

4 ounces of Mocha coffee

Grind the Mocha rather coarse, put it in the double boiler with one half the cream, and steep over the fire for at least ten minutes. Strain through a fine muslin or flannel bag, pressing it hard to get out all the strength of the coffee. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved; when cold, add the remaining pint of cream and freeze.

This will serve six persons.

Coffee Ice Cream Recipe 2

1 pint of strong black coffee

1 pint of cream

2 eggs

1/2 pound of sugar

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Beat the sugar and the yolks of the eggs until light, add the well-beaten whites, and pour into them the coffee, boiling hot. Stir over a medium heat for a minute, remove from heat, add the vanilla, and, when cold, add the cream, and freeze.

This will serve eight persons.

Neapolitan Ice Cream

In this group of ice cream recipes we have a set of frozen desserts called by many "ice creams," but which are really frozen custards, flavored. In localities where cream is not accessible, the Neapolitan Creams are far better than milk thickened with cornstarch or gelatin.

Neapolitan Blocks

These are made by putting layers of various kinds and colors of ice creams into a brick mold. Pack and freeze. At serving time, cut into slices crosswise of the brick, and serve each slice on a paper mat.

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Nut Ice Cream Recipes

Burnt Almond Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

4 ounces of sweet almonds

1 tablespoonful of caramel

1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract

4 tablespoonfuls of sherry

Shell, blanch and roast the almonds until they are a golden brown, then grate them. Put half the cream and all the sugar over a medium heat in a double boiler. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat, add the caramel and the almonds, and, when cold, add the remaining pint of cream,the vanilla and the sherry.

This quantity will serve eight persons.

Pistachio Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1/2 pound of shelled pistachio nuts

1 teaspoonful of almond extract

10 drops of green coloring

Blanch and pound or grate the nuts. Put half the cream and all the sugar in a double boiler; stir until the sugar is dissolved and stand aside to cool; when cold, add the nuts, the flavoring and the remaining cream, mix, add the coloring, and turn into the freezer to freeze.

This quantity will serve six persons

Walnut Ice Cream

1 pint of cream

1 pint of milk

2 eggs

1/2 pint of chopped black walnuts

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

1 teaspoonful of caramel

Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar until light; add the well-beaten whites, and then the milk, scalding hot. Stir over a medium heat in a double boiler until the mixture begins to thicken; remove from heat and add the vanilla and caramel. When cold, add the walnuts and cream, and freeze.

This will serve eight persons.

Walnut Ice Cream Recipe 2

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

1 teaspoonful of caramel

1/2 pint of black walnut meats

Put the sugar and half the cream over a medium heat in a double boiler; when the sugar is dissolved, stand it aside to cool. When cold, add the remaining cream, the walnuts, chopped, and the flavoring, and freeze.

This will serve six persons.

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Cookies and Bread Ice Cream Recipes

Cookie Ice Cream

6 wine biscuits 

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Grate and sift the biscuits. Scald half the cream and the sugar; when cold, add the remaining cream and the vanilla, and freeze. When frozen, break up the ice cream, stir in the powdered biscuits, and re-freeze.

This quantity will serve six persons.

Bisque Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1/4 pound of almond macaroons

4 kisses

1/2 pound of sugar

1 slice of stale sponge cake or 2 stale lady fingers

1 teaspoonful of caramel

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

If you use it, 4 tablespoonfuls of sherry

Pound the macaroons, kisses, lady fingers or sponge cake, and put them through a colander. Put half the cream and all the sugar over a medium heat in a double boiler; when the sugar is dissolved, stand the mixture aside to cool; when cold, add the remaining cream, the caramel, sherry and vanilla. Turn the mixture into the freezer, and, when frozen, add the pounded cakes; stir the mixture until it is perfectly smooth and well mixed, and repack. Bisque ice cream is better for a three hour stand.

This quantity will serve six persons.

Brown Bread Ice Cream

3 half inch slices Brown Bread

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1 teaspoonful of vanilla or 1/4 of a vanilla bean or a teaspoonful of vanilla extract

Dry and toast the bread in the oven, grate or pound it, and put it through an ordinary sieve. Heat half the cream and all the sugar; remove from heat, add vanilla, and, when cold, add the remaining cream, and freeze. When frozen, break up with a spoon, stir in the brown bread, repack and freeze.

This quantity will serve six persons.

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Fruit Based Ice Cream Recipes

Apricot Ice Cream

6 ounces of sugar

1 quart of cream

1 can of apricots or 1 quart of fresh apricots

If fresh apricots are used, take an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Put half the cream and all the sugar over a medium heat in a double boiler and stir until the sugar is dissolved; remove from heat and, when cold, add the remaining cream. Turn the mixture into the freezer, and, when frozen fairly stiff, add the apricots after having been pressed through a colander. Return the lid, adjust the crank, and turn it slowly for five minutes, then remove the dasher and repack.

This quantity should serve ten persons.

Banana Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

6 large bananas

1/2 pound of sugar

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Put half the cream and all the sugar over a low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from from the stove, and, when perfectly cold, add the remaining half of the cream. Freeze the mixture, and add the bananas mashed or pressed through a colander. Turn until the mixture is frozen rather hard.

This quantity will serve ten persons.

Apple Ice Cream

4 large tart apples

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1 tablespoonful of lemon juice

Put half the cream and all the sugar over the fire and stir until the sugar is dissolved. When the mixture is perfectly cold, freeze it and add the lemon juice and the apples, pared and grated. Finish the freezing, and repack to ripen.

The apples must be pared at the last minute and grated into the cream. If they are grated on a dish and allowed to remain in the air they will turn very dark and spoil the color of the cream.

Lemon Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

9 ounces of powdered sugar

4 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice Juice of one orange

Grated yellow rind of 3 lemons

Mix the sugar, the grated rind and juice of the lemons, and the orange juice together. Put half the cream in a double boiler over a medium heat; when scalding hot, stand it aside until perfectly cold; add the remaining half of the cream and freeze it rather hard. Break up with a spoon, add the sugar mixture, and beat rapidly for 5 minutes. Return to freezer to ripen.

This will serve six people.

Orange Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

10 ounces of sugar

Juice of 6 large oranges

Grated rind of one orange

Put the sugar, grated yellow rind of the orange and half the cream in a double boiler over a medium heat; when the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat, and, when very cold, add the remaining cream, and freeze. When frozen rather hard, add the orange juice, refreeze, and pack to ripen.

Pineapple Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

12 ounces of sugar

1 large ripe pineapple or 1 pint can of grated pineapple

Juice of one lemon

Put half the cream and half the sugar in a double boiler over a medium heat; when the sugar is dissolved, stand it aside until cold. Pare and grate the pineapple, add the remaining half of the sugar and stand it aside. When the cream is cold, add the remaining cream, and partly freeze. Then add the lemon juice to the pineapple and add it to the frozen cream; turn the freezer five minutes longer, and repack.

This will serve eight or ten persons.

Greengage Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

4 ounces of sugar

1 pint of preserved greengages, free from syrup

Press the greengages through a sieve. Add the sugar to half the cream, stir it in a double boiler until the sugar is dissolved; when cold, add the remaining cream. When this is partly frozen, stir in the greengage pulp, and finish the freezing.

If the greengages are colorless, add three or four drops of apple green coloring to the cream before freezing.

Raspberry Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1 quart of raspberries

12 ounces of sugar

Juice of one lemon

Mash the raspberries; add half the sugar and the lemon juice. Put the remaining sugar and half the cream in a double boiler; stir until the sugar is dissolved, and stand aside to cool; when cold, add the remaining cream, turn the mixture into the freezer, and stir until partly frozen. Remove the lid and add the mashed raspberries, and stir again for five or ten minutes until the mixture is sufficiently hard to repack.

This will serve eight or ten persons.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Make precisely the same as raspberry ice cream, substituting one quart of strawberries for the raspberries.

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Luxury Ice Cream Recipes

Curacao Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1 wineglassful of curacao

1/2 pound of sugar

2 tablespoonfuls of orange blossoms water

Juice of two oranges

Put the sugar and half the cream over a medium heat in a double boiler. When the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat, and, when cold, add the curacao, orange juice and orange blossoms water; add the remaining cream, and freeze.

This will serve six persons.

Ginger Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1/4 pound of preserved ginger

1/2 pound of sugar

1 tablespoonful of lemon juice

Put the ginger through an ordinary meat chopper. Heat the sugar, ginger and half the cream in a double boiler; when the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat, and, when cold, add the lemon juice and remaining cream, and freeze.

Maraschino Ice Cream

1 quart of cream

1/2 pound of sugar

1 orange

2 wine glassfuls of maraschino

2 drops of Angostura Bitters, or 1/2 teaspoonful of extract of wild cherry

Put the sugar and half the cream in a double boiler, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. When cold, add the remaining cream, the juice of the orange, the bitters or wild cherry, and the maraschino, and freeze.

Serve in parfait glasses to six persons.

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Ice Cream Recipes using Condensed Milk

These creams are not so good as those made from raw cream, but with care and good flavoring are quite as good as the ordinary Neapolitan Creams.

There is one advantage - condensed milk is not so liable to curdle when mixed with fresh fruits.

Banana and Condensed Milk Ice Cream

6 large bananas

1/4 pound of sugar

1 half pint can of condensed milk

1/2 cupful of water Juice of one lemon

Press the bananas through a sieve, and add the lemon juice and sugar. Stand aside a half hour, add milk and water, stir until the sugar is dissolved, and freeze.

This will serve six persons.

Caramel Condensed Milk Ice Cream

1/4 cupful of brown sugar

1/2 cupful of granulated sugar

1 cupful of water 

2 half pint cans of condensed milk

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Put the brown sugar in an iron pan, melt and brown it. When it begins to smoke, add two tablespoonfuls of hot water. Stir until liquid. Pour out the milk, rinse the cans with the water, add the caramel, vanilla and granulated sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, freeze.

This will serve six persons.

Coconut Ice Cream

2 large coconuts

1 pint of boiling water

1/2 pint can of sweetened condensed milk

Grate the coconuts and pour over them the boiling water. Stir until it is cool, and press in a sieve. Put the fibre in a cheese cloth and wring it dry; add this to the water that was strained through the sieve. When cold, add condensed milk, and freeze.

This will serve eight persons.

Chocolate and Condensed Milk Ice Cream No. 1

2 ounces of Baker's chocolate

1/2 pint of water

1 small teaspoonful of ground cinnamon

2 half pint cans of condensed milk

1 teaspoonful of vanilla 1/4 pound of sugar

Put the water, chocolate, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan; stir until boiling. Remove from heat, add the vanilla and the condensed milk. When cold, freeze.

This will serve six persons.

Chocolate and Condensed Milk Ice Cream No. 2

4 ounces of Baker's chocolate

1/2 pint of water

1/2 pound of sugar

2 half pint cans of condensed milk

1 pint of milk

2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla

1 small teaspoonful of ground cinnamon

Put the chocolate, sugar, water and cinnamon in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until the mixture boils. Remove from heat, and add all the remaining ingredients. When cold, freeze.

This will serve eight persons.

Coffee and Condensed Milk Ice Cream

1 pint of strong black coffee

1/2 cupful of sugar

1/2 pint can of condensed milk

1 teaspoonful of vanilla

Add the sugar to the hot coffee, and stir until it is dissolved; add the milk, using water enough to rinse out the cans; add the vanilla. When the mixture is cold, freeze, turning it rapidly toward the end of the freezing.

This will serve four persons.

Peach and Condensed Milk Ice Cream

12 ripe or canned peaches

4 peach kernels

1/2 pint of water

2 half pint cans of unsweetened condensed milk

1/2 pound of sugar

Put the sugar, water and peach kernels over a medium heat; stir until the sugar is dissolved, and boil three minutes. Pare the peaches and press them through a colander, add to them the strained syrup. When cold, turn the mixture into a container, place in the freezer and beat every half hour until partly frozen; add the milk, and continue the freezing.

Omit the water and use less sugar with canned peaches.

This will serve ten persons.

Orange and Condensed Milk Ice Cream

1 full pint of orange juice

2/3 cupful of sugar

1/2 pint can of condensed milk

Grated yellow rind of two oranges

Grate the rinds into the sugar, add milk and enough water to rinse cans. When sugar is dissolved, stand it in a cold place. Put orange juice in the freezer and freeze it quite hard; add sweetened milk, and freeze again quickly.

This will serve four persons.

Orange and Condensed Milk Ice Cream Recipe 2

Freeze a full quart of orange juice.  When quite hard, add a can of sweetened condensed milk, freeze it again, and serve at once.

This is very nice and will serve eight persons.

Orange Jello Ice Cream

1/2 pint of orange juice

1 package of orange Jello

1/2 pound of sugar 

1 pint can of unsweetened condensed milk 

1/2 pint of water

Add the grated yellow rind of two oranges to the Jello; add the sugar and the water, boiling. Stir until the sugar and Jello are dissolved, add the orange juice, and when the mixture is cold, put it in the freezer and stir slowly until it begins to freeze. Add the condensed milk, and continue the freezing.

This is nice served in tall glasses, with the beaten whites of the eggs made into a meringue and heaped on top.In this way it will serve eight persons.

Sour Sop and Condensed Milk Ice Cream

1 large sour sop

1/4 pound of sugar

1/2 pint can of unsweetened condensed milk 4 tablespoonfuls of boiling water Juice of one lime

Squeeze the sour sop, which should measure nearly one quart; add the sugar melted in the water with the lime juice and milk, and freeze slowly.

This will serve ten persons.

If you have enjoyed out ice cream recipes don't forget to see our other Country Recipes. If you have a recipe of your own, please let us have it through the form below.

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Recommended books on How to Make Ice Cream,  Recipes and Ice Cream Makers

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