Our Basic Ice Cream Recipe!!

One of my favorite things about summer, well spring and summer, is making homemade ice cream and ice cream cakes! I confess that I love my homemade ice cream so much that I rarely eat ice cream out anywhere because to me it is just not as good! :-) We were lucky enough to find a great deal on the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream maker at Costco last spring. It makes one and a half quarts, which is a good amount for our family and is the volume that our recipe produces. Don't have an ice cream maker? You can find the newer version of ours here or you can check out this great No-churn Ice Cream recipe from Food Renegade here which we used before we got our ice cream maker and which inspired some of our ingredients and ratios. :-)

Our basic recipe produces a delicious vanilla which is still my favorite, and I NEVER liked vanilla ice cream before I started making my own. You can also add any topping of your choice or cocoa powder to make chocolate. I love the versatility of this recipe and we are continually experimenting with new things to mix-in to it! This is a great recipe for kids to help with, and the various steps lend themselves easily to differing abilities so that even the youngest helpers can contribute! :-) Ready to get started?

Our ingredients for this batch - we are making Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream so our ingredients are yogurt, cream, raw honey, vanilla, eggs and diced, macerated (1 T sugar) strawberries. I am using pasteurized cream here, but my raw milk farmer has offered to save me some raw cream soon and I am so excited to try it! 

1 cup of yogurt. Homemade yogurt works just as well here too, I just haven't made any recently.

1/2 cup of delicious local, raw honey from our CSA farm! I am really liking using honey this year. Not only does it produce a creamier, softer set ice cream, but it requires less sweetener than sugar so its a win-win in my mind! :-)

Yogurt, honey, 4 egg yolks and vanilla added to mixing bowl to process first. If I were making chocolate, I would also add 3/4 of cocoa powder at this time. If I were making a fruit ice cream for which I wanted the fruit flavor to blend with the ice cream, rather than function as an add-in, I would also add some of the fruit at this stage for blending. 

Mix the ingredients until thoroughly blended in mixer or food processor.

Next add your cream (2 cups for vanilla, 1-1/2 cups if you're adding anything else!) and blend well.

At this point you can add your additional ingredients before placing your mix in the ice cream maker, or you can wait until the ice cream is processed for a while. This is something we have and are still experimenting with, to find the best timing, and truly it depends on what you are adding. The earlier you add it, the more it will incorporate into the ice cream, which is better with fruit, not as great with say chocolate sandwich cookies ;-)

My assistant cutting strawberries :-)

After he finished I went back and chopped them even smaller than I'd originally asked him to cut them and added a tablespoon of sugar to macerate them a little. You really want to add very small pieces of your add-ins as they will freeze much more solidly than the ice cream, especially if you use honey.

The finished product ready to go in the freezer and hard set. I usually make my ice cream in the late morning or early afternoon so that it has plenty of time to set up before dinner and I have plenty of time to take care of the dishes before I make even more cooking dinner!

YUM! I loved the Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream, as did my daughters. My helper on the other hand liked it "Ok" and requested Chocolate Ice Cream for next time. :-)

Here is the official recipe in easy written form:

** DISCLAIMER ** I use raw eggs and dairy products in my ice cream. I know my sources and totally feel comfortable with their safety. You need to make this decision for yourself :-) 

BASIC ICE CREAM RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup yogurt

2 cups raw or organic heavy cream (use 1-1/2 cups to accommodate additions)

3-4 egg yolks (strongly recommend local, free range or at least fresh, pastured organic)

1/2 cup raw honey or 3/4 cup sucanat, rapadura or organic sugar 

2 tablespoons vanilla extract (use 1 Tbsp for other favors)
1/2 - 3/4 cup addition of your choice (make sure to only use 1-1/2 cups cream!!)

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Add yogurt, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla to mixer or food processor & blend well

2.) Add cream and blend well

3.) Add additional toppings (EXCEPTION - cocoa powder should be added to yogurt in first mix)

4.) Add to ice cream maker & processes until soft set (about 30 minutes for our machine) according to manufacturers directions, then transfer to freezer until hard set (generally at least 2 hours). 

It is just that easy and fun and delicious! I'd love to hear your experiences trying out this recipe. Please tell us what you think and what delicious flavors and add-ins you tried! I'd love to hear your feedback and thank you for stopping by Green Fox Farms! :-)

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