If you’ve never made your own ice cream, please, make this luscious, velvety, rich, creamy, cold Homemade Ice Cream now–it’s happiness in a scoop times ten.
There’s nothing more fun than making homemade ice cream with your kids. The glee … the anticipation … the happy moments when it’s finally churned and in a bowl and all over your children’s smiling mouths. Get ready to snap some pics! You’ll want to for this moment.
Homemade ice cream, after all, deserves to be shared–both the making and the eating of it. And if you think making homemade ice cream is grueling or time-consuming–don’t. The ice cream maker does all the heavy lifting, and it does so surprisingly fast–thank goodness, because who wants to wait long for creamy, dreamy, cold, delicious homemade ice cream? Nobody.
So, it’s good that it only takes 30 minutes to churn the cream into that cold, better than ice creamery ice cream because man, this is one goooooooood vanilla ice cream recipe.
Why You and Your Family Will Love This Homemade Ice Cream Recipe
With no fillers, preservatives, artificial flavors, or colors, just that sweet taste of chilled heavy cream, sugar, whole milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt, you cannot get more pure, wholesome, and delicious than this homemade ice cream recipe.
I make this for all of my clients, who sooner or later want an ice cream bar at some birthday party or special occasion. This is the perfect ice cream to do just that because with or without toppings, it tastes absolutely heavenly. Each icy cold, pillow-soft, creamy, velvety bite brings a smile to all faces and that’s because it tastes absolutely heavenly.
Some great ideas for toppings for this are chopped Nestlé Crunch Bars, chopped mini Reese’s Cups, mini Hershey’s Kisses, mint chips, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, raspberry, strawberry, or caramel sauce, hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped peanuts, chocolate covered raisins, chocolate covered peanuts, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, I could go on and on … and so can an ice cream bar!
For other great ideas, see aboutamom.com’s guide to Making the Best Ice Cream Bar here.
How to Make Ahead and Store
With only five ingredients, one doesn’t really need to make this ahead—but you could mix all these ingredients and chill them overnight in the refrigerator, letting all meld together. It might even intensify the vanilla flavor—especially if you steep a whole vanilla bean in your bowl of prepared ice cream overnight before freezing. Talk about vanilla-y. That would be like the best vanilla bean ice cream ever. You need to freeze homemade ice cream, of course. And you can keep this ice cream one to two months before the texture will begin to suffer. It must be frozen, not refrigerated!
Serving Suggestions
I love serving this ice cream with virtually everything. But my typical kid’s birthday party spread might look something like this: a whole lot of Viral Smash Burger Tacos, three Buffalo Chicken Pizzas, one Flatbread Caprese Pizza, two pans of Loaded Totchos, two to three of these Big Cookie Cakes, and a homemade vanilla ice cream and sundae bar, as described above, required.
If you like this recipe, try this No Churn Galaxy Ice Cream. You don’t have to churn this ice cream. Kids adore this because it both looks and tastes out of this world.
Homemade Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Optional: pinch of salt
- Optional add-ins: chocolate chips brownie bites, cookie chunks…
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together heavy cream, whole milk, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and salt (optional). Make sure sugar is dissolved before stopping.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
- Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions, about 20-30 minutes, or until it thickens to a soft serve texture. Add optional add-ins at this stage.
- Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours, or until firm.
- To serve, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften before scooping.
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