All Natural Homemade Ice Cream

The Saint George, Utah area where I live has very hot summers. I don't know about you, but on a hot summer day, a little ice cream is a nice indulgence. And, in spite of the fact that I'm lactose intolerant, I also like to enjoy a little ice cream on special occasions like my birthday.

Like so many other foods I love, however, I prefer my own homemade version over the store-bought stuff any day. Not only is it healthier, I think it tastes better, too.

To make ice cream, you'll need an ice cream freezer. As a lover of kitchen gadgets, I own two ice cream freezers. The one I use the most is a one-quart model that doesn't require messing with the ice and the salt. You keep the bowel in the freezer and when you're ready to make the ice cream, you take it out and put the motorized top on. Then, you turn it on and pour the ice cream mix into it. If you don't have a machine, America's Test Kitchen rated the Krups 358-70 La Glaciere Ice Cream Maker as the best machine. Click this link to learn more about it: Ice Cream Machine

The other is one is a traditional motorized ice cream freezer that needs crushed ice and rock salt. I got for parties because it's a six-quart model. I only use it once or twice a year. When I was a child we had an really old fashioned hand-crank ice cream freezer and I can remember the work it took to crank that freezer and make the ice cream, so I'm glad they're motorized now.

This recipe I have works very well and can be made with either milk or soymilk and produce a good product. I usually use soymilk so that I can eat the stuff without upsetting my digestive tract. I adapted this recipe from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. Their book is a great source for ideas for making different flavors of ice cream.

Basic Ice Cream Recipe

Here are the ingredients for one quart.

2-cups heavy cream (I prefer cream that is organic and/or raw, if possible. If organic cream isn't available, I use regular cream but purchase a brand that doesn't contain preservatives. By the way, ultra-pasteurized dairy products aren't that good for you, even if they're organic. I'm fortunate that there is a raw milk dairy about 40 miles from here where I can get raw cream. It isn't organic, but it isn't pasteurized either and doesn't have any additives.)

 

 

1/2-cup honey. (A very light honey works best, such as clover or alfalfa. Dark honey adds too much flavor to the ice cream. I tried making a batch with 3/4 cup of xylitol once, but I didn't like it as well as the honey.)

 

 

2-eggs (organic, free range of course)

 

 

1-cup Silk regular vanilla soymilk (or equivalent) or 1 cup raw milk or organic milk that has not been ultra-pasteurized.)

 

 

1-teaspoon vanilla extract (I use real vanilla extract of course.)

 

Here's how to assemble the ice cream.

Measure the cream into a saucepan. This will leave the measuring cup coated with cream. Now, measure the honey using the same measuring cup and it will not stick to the sides of the measuring cup. Put the honey with the cream.

 

 

Warm the honey and cream mixture on low until the honey dissolves completely into the cream, stirring occasionally. The honey will turn the cream a very light amber color when it has thoroughly dissolved. (This is a very important step! The honey must be thoroughly dissolved in the cream or it won't come out right.)

 

 

In a bowel, beat the two eggs until they are frothy. Slowly pour the warm cream mixture into the eggs while beating.

 

 

Now, add the soymilk or milk and beat that in.

 

 

Cover the bowel and allow the mixture to chill in the fridge until it is cold (at least 3-4 hours).

 

Remove the mixture from the fridge and add the vanilla. Whisk the mixture together and pour into your ice cream freezer.

 

 

Freeze according to the directions on the ice cream freezer.

 

When frozen, put into a bowel or dish and let harden in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes before serving.

 

Variations

We've made some fruit-flavored versions of the ice cream that turned out really well, including strawberry, peach and mango. You'll need about 1-2 cups of fruit. Crush or mash the fruit and add just a little lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon) and a little xylitol or fructose to sweeten the fruit. Chill the mixture in fridge while you're chilling your ice cream base. Omit the vanilla.

Mix the chilled fruit into the ice cream base right before adding it to the freezer.

One of my favorite flavors is pumpkin. To make this add 1 small can of unsweetened pumpkin and a teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and a teaspoon of freshly grated cinnamon to the recipe above and mix it thoroughly before chilling in the fridge. After the mixture has chilled in the fridge, freeze as before, omitting vanilla.

I made a graham cracker crust one time and poured the pumpkin ice cream into the crust and chilled it to make a pumpkin ice cream pie. It was delicious.

I'm not saying ice cream is the perfect health food, but if you're going to have some, why not have some that's made from top quality ingredients?