machine-free ice cream
Ice cream is by far my favourite dessert. I used to own an ice cream machine but it took up lots of space and I wasn’t every 100% happy with it. It’s taken me years to develop a recipe for ice cream that doesn’t need a machine. But it’s been time well spent.
makes about 2 cups
1/3 cup fruit juice or puree, optional
250g (9oz) icing (powdered or confectioners) sugar
300mL (1+1/4cups) whipping cream, approx 35% milk fat
1. Combine juice or puree and icing sugar in a small bowl.
2. Using a whisk, whip cream until soft peaks just start to form and the cream has thickened slightly.
3. Whisk the sugar mixture in with the cream and whisk until the texture is back to the soft peaks.
4. Place in a freezer-proof container and freeze for at least 6 hours or until lovely and ice-creamy.
note: If not using the fruit juice / puree, you can reduce the sugar to 200g (7oz).
variations
juice – lemon, lime, passionfruit (with seeds!), pomegranate. You could use orange juice but I’m not a bit fan of orange with dairy.
fruit puree – raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, banana, peaches, nectarines, pineapple, mango, pear, rhubarb.
other potential additives – chocolate chunks, cookie dough, brownies, praline, sugar coated nuts, chocolate coated honeycomb, caramel chunks. vanilla, cocoa powder, malted milk powder.
dairy-free – use unsweetened coconut cream. Chill the can for a few hours then remove the solid cream, discarding any watery liquid. Whip as you would normal cream.
leftover potential?
Will keep in the freezer for months, but the texture will increase in iciness so best to eat within a few weeks.
problem solving guide
cream too icy – Sounds like not enough sugar. Allow to soften in the fridge for 15 minutes or so. And next time use more sugar or check you have used the correct amount.
too sweet -The secret to getting the ice cream to stay creamy is the high sugar content. If you find it too much, try replacing half the cream with yoghurt or adding in some lemon juice or other acid to balance out the sweetness.
cream has rough texture – If it’s little ice crystals, see the solution above for too icy. If the cream itself seems a bit chunky it sounds like either the cream wasn’t fresh to begin with OR you’ve over whipped it. Not much can be done at this stage, next time whip less.
serving suggestions
Anywhere you’d use ice cream.
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Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Hi Jules,
Can you use Stevia (Like Natvia) instead of sugar in this recipe?
Ben.
No Ben
Sorry! Natvia is much less soluble than sugar and you’ll end up with a gritty mess.
Jx
Dang! Thanks for the reply. Its going to be a extra special treat then 🙂
Enjoy Ben!
Hi there,
I see mention of glycerine in the introduction, but not anywhere in the recipe or variations. Can you elaborate? Thanks 🙂
Hi Amy!
Sorry to be confusing… I did use glycerine for a while but decided it didn’t really help so have stopped. I meant to delete all references to it but missed the one in the intro! Thanks for picking up my error 🙂
Jx
Can you increase the amount if purée without damaging the results?
It’s risky Chris because we’re relying on the sugar to stop the ice cream freezing hard… if you introduce too much water that will result in a big block of ice!
You could try increasing a little but be cautious 🙂
Jx
I have to comment on this recipe. I am normally not much of a dessert cook because there’s only 2 of us and dessert recipes usually make enough for 4-8. Frankly I’m too lazy to cook again after I already cooked for supper. My husband loves ice cream but I refuse to get the stuff with all the additives and we don’t have a machine. So dessert is a pretty rare event here.
Until now.
Jules has created a monster with this recipe. For a solid week after I discovered it, I was trying different variations, some according to my husband’s requests, some according to my own tastes. Now I have to make sure I don’t keep too much whipping cream and icing sugar on hand, for my waistline’s sake!
Hi Georgia
Great question.
I’ve actually just updated the recipe because after tasting the ice cream last night I wasn’t happy with the texture with the glycerine. And much preferred the one with straight sugar.
Glycerine is used to bind water in food, which helps prevent the water from forming ice crystals – keeping the ice cream creamy and smooth. But it isn’t as effective as just using sugar.
I got mine from my local health foods store. It can be a bit tricky to track down.
If you did want to try the recipe with less sugar and glycerine.. just use 1 tablespoon glycerine and reduce the sugar by half.
Hi Jules,
Can you give me a little information about glycerine? I have never used this ingredient. Where do you get it?
Georgia