Ingredients

To make chocolate brownie ice cream, you need the ingredients to make a chocolate custard base. You will obviously need pieces of brownies too!

• Milk and cream, preferably 2 % fat or even 3.25 % fat whole milk and whipping cream with 35 % fat. You can play with the amount of fat in this recipe, but less fat will have an impact on the final texture and flavour. The ice cream may taste a little more watery with less fat and have more ice crystals.
• Egg yolks to make the crème anglaise, which act as an emulsifier and a thickener in this recipe, providing body, as well as colour and flavour.
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar though brown sugar would work fine too. Don't skimp on the sugar or your ice cream may end up too icy and the texture won't be as nice.
• Fine kosher salt, which dissolves easily and provides a little depth of flavour, helping the flavours in the ice cream stand out more.
• Vanilla extract enhances the flavours in the custard base making a more complex-tasting chocolate ice cream.
• Dutch-processed cocoa powder—do not use a natural cocoa powder because the flavour is too mild! I used either Cacao Barry Extra Brute or Cacao Barry Plein Arôme cocoa.
• Chocolate, specifically 70 % dark chocolate that isn't too sweet—I used Ocoa from Cacao Barry, which is not sweet and has a strong cocoa flavour with roasted and bitter notes.
• Brownie pieces—I used leftover Brownies with walnuts that I cut up and froze to make this ice cream, but you can use any brownies, even made from brownie mix. Use store-bought brownies from your favourite local bakery if are short on time!

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Instructions

There are four major parts to making chocolate brownie ice cream:

1. Blooming the cocoa powder and melting the chocolate to make the chocolate base
2. Making a crème anglaise
3. Combining the chocolate base with the crème anglaise
4. Chilling, churning, and folding in the brownies before hardening the ice cream.

Blooming the cocoa powder

Blooming the cocoa helps the cocoa powder better incorporate into the ice cream so that it doesn't have a powdery mouthfeel in the end.

Start by heating most of the cream and cocoa powder—this is called "blooming" the cocoa powder

Once the cocoa and cream are hot, you can add the dark chocolate and it will melt.

Making a crème anglaise

Please read about how to make a crème anglaise if this is your first time. Unlike pastry cream filling, crème anglaise is cooked low and slow for a longer period on the stove at a low heat setting.

To make the crème anglaise, you start by whisking the egg yolks with the sugar, which is a French pastry term called "blanchir" (which means to whiten or lighten").

The egg yolks should become a pale pastel yellow and the sugar should begin to dissolve.

Heat the milk until it's almost boiling, then pour it onto the whisked egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs.

After cooking the custard on the stove on low to thicken it, the crème anglaise is strained to remove any bits of cooked egg that would ruin the texture of your ice cream.

Combining the chocolate base and crème anglaise

The chocolate base of melted chocolate, cream, and cocoa powder doesn't easily combine with the crème anglaise. You have to use a stick blender to get the two components to mix properly (or use a whisk, but this will take some effort).

Use a stick blender (electric hand blender) to combine the chocolate base and the crème anglaise.

Chill the chocolate custard in an ice bath to speed up the process. You should then chill the custard overnight in the fridge.

Chilling the custard and churning the ice cream

In order to churn the ice cream fast enough before the freezer drum melts, the ice cream base has to be chilled thoroughly in the refrigerator. Taking the time to do so will prevent the freezer drum from heating up too quickly as it churns. You will have more time to churn the ice cream so that it freezes properly with a nice creamy, light texture.

Before chilling overnight in the refrigerator, the chocolate custard will have a lot of bubbles.

After chilling the chocolate custard in the fridge overnight, it will be thick like pudding.

Tip: Don't forget to chill the freezer drum for at least 24 hours before churning your ice cream. I usually put it in the freezer 2 days before I will make ice cream. Otherwise, the freezer drum may not be cold enough: you may not be able to churn your ice cream fully. This could lead to it melting too fast during the process. The ice cream may be dense or icy.

Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker for about 20 minutes or until it has the texture of soft-serve ice cream.

To make the best homemade ice cream, I highly recommend getting an ice cream machine. When you are shopping, you have three choices:

• a freezer bowl attachment that is compatible with your stand mixer, like this KitchenAid freezer bowl compatible with the Artisan stand mixers);
• an ice cream machine with a freezer bowl that has to be frozen for at least 24 hours before using the machine—this basic Cuisinart machine that has great reviews on Amazon;
• an ice cream machine with a built in compressor so you can make ice cream any time of the day and all day long if you want, without worrying about pre-freezing the bowl. This Cuisinart ice cream maker is the machine recommended by professionals.

Ice cream makers with compressors are the most expensive category of ice cream makers on the market. However, if you like to make homemade ice cream, you might want to consider one to make your life easier! The Cuisinart ice cream machine with a compressor built into it has over two thousand reviews on Amazon.

Adding brownies to ice cream

The volume of ice cream plus brownies will likely too big for your ice cream machine to handle. You have to do this step by hand.

Once you have churned the chocolate ice cream, turn off the machine and fold in the brownie pieces by hand. Or you can layer them in your storage container with the ice cream (my preferred method).

Spread a thin layer of soft chocolate ice cream at the bottom of your container to anchor the brownie pieces.

Distribute an even layer of brownie pieces, pressing them into the soft chocolate ice cream.

Keep alternating layers of ice cream and brownie pieces until you've filled your storage container.

Note: I use the Tovolo ice cream tubs to store my ice cream. This is what you see in my photos. The total volume of the tub is 1.5 L. Between the ice cream and the brownie pieces, you may need a second smaller 250 mL (1 cup) container to store the leftovers. The final volume depends on the overrun and how much your custard volume increased in the ice cream machine.

Storage

I highly recommend investing in a freezer container for your ice cream. I have a Tovolo ice cream tub. It has an elongated shape, giving you ample room to drag the ice cream scoop more easily! The base is non-slip, so you have more traction when scooping and it's double walled for better storage.

Top Homemade Ice Cream Tips

Homemade ice cream freezes hard. That's completely normal. Here's how to make serving homemade ice cream easier:

• Take it out of the freezer 10 minutes before you plan to serve it to help soften it a little.
• Dip your ice cream scoop in hot water to warm up the metal, then dry it off quickly and use the warm scoop to portion out the ice cream more easily.
• Use a disher or an ice cream scoop with a release to be able to scoop and release the scoop cleanly with the press of a button

Hardening is inevitable, and it's also an important step when making homemade ice cream. If you don't properly harden the ice cream for several hours in the freezer after churning, the ice cream will be less stable, and prone to melting fast.

Some ice cream makers will add a little alcohol to their ice cream base so that it is softer once frozen. You can try this but be careful: too much alcohol and your ice cream won't freeze and will be too soft to serve!

If you tried this recipe for the best chocolate brownie ice cream (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe

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Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

Learn how to make the best homemade chocolate brownie ice cream with this easy recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 537kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) divided
• 18 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 130 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content)
• 5 mL vanilla extract
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 200 grams granulated sugar divided
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 220 grams brownies chopped into small pieces and frozen in a freezer bag to store them

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• In a small saucepan, combine half the cream with the cocoa powder.
• Bring the mixture up to the boil, whisking constantly, then lower the heat and simmer the cocoa mixture for 1 minute.
• Take the pan off the heat. Add the dark chocolate to the pan and let it stand 1 minute, then stir it in to melt it completely.
• Add the rest of the cream and the vanilla, then transfer the chocolate base to a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup or a large bowl with a pouring spout. Place a strainer over top for later. Set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath that can accommodate the measuring cup or bowl with the chocolate base.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar and the salt, until the mixture has lightened.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached 83 °C (181 °F). The goal is to slowly thickened the custard.
• Pour the mixture through the strainer set over the chocolate base, pressing the custard through gently, if needed.
• Use a stick blender to combine the strained custard with the chocolate base at the bottom of the bowl (or measuring cup). The mixture should be thick and homogenous.
• Cover with plastic wrap and place the bowl in the prepared ice bath to cool it down faster. Refrigerate the chocolate ice cream base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take about 15 to 20 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream is the texture of soft serve, turn off the machine and disassemble it.
• Layer the frozen brownie pieces with the chocolate ice cream as you transfer the ice cream to your storage container. Place in freezer for a few hours to harden before serving.

Notes

• Chocolate—For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate and for the cocoa powder, I used Dutch-processed. You could try black cocoa powder, which is even darker, though the flavour will be quite different (not necessarily better in my opinion).
• Sugar - instead of granulated sugar, you can use a mix of it and brown sugar, which will add some really interesting molasses notes to it.
• Salt—This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Cream and milk - I use a combination of 35 % whipping cream and whole milk, you could consider replacing the total volume of cream plus milk with something like half and half or coffee cream (that is usually around 10–20% fat) and it could work well.
• Raspberry brownie - gently press a handful of raspberries on your next pan of brownies before baking, and fold the baked brownies with raspberries into freshly churned chocolate ice cream.
• Blondie - replace the brownie pieces with pieces of these toffee blondies for a real treat!
• Cookies - chop up these chocolate chip cookies with pecans to make the chocolate version of this cookie ice cream.
• Mint brownie - infuse the milk for the crème anglaise with fresh mint leaves or add a few drops of mint extract before chilling the custard overnight. Checkout this mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe to find out how much mint to add.
• Double chocolate brownie- drizzle a thin stream of melted dark chocolate to make chocolate ice cream with chocolate flecks or layer in some of the chocolate fudge sauce that I used to make this banana split cake
• Lactose-free variation - if you can't have lactose, this recipe will work with lactose-free milk and cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 537kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 230mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 381mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 1111IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 3mg

The post Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream appeared first on The Bake School.

The fall season is all about pumpkin desserts, but instead of the usual pumpkin loaf cake and pumpkin pie made with cream instead of evaporated milk, make pumpkin ice cream! If you love to bake with pumpkin, order your copy of the e-book All About Pumpkin so you can showcase this star ingredient!

What you need to make it

Pumpkin ice cream tastes just like pumpkin pie, actually! It's a real treat! Here is a rundown of the ingredients you will need to make it:

• milk and cream are important to add fat to the ice cream base so that it doesn't freeze too hard. Too much milk and not enough cream will lead to a less creamy taste and will also have an impact on texture
• sugar, either granulated sugar or brown sugar works in this recipe, but brown sugar will add more flavour. The sugar is very important to achieve the right texture so don't cut back on it
• egg yolks are needed to help emulsify the ice cream ingredients and also to thicken the custard and give it a richer texture and flavour
• pumpkin spice mix or a mixture of spices, store bought spice mix or a homemade blend will work here
• pumpkin purée, either homemade or canned will work in this recipe, but I prefer homemade
• salt, specifically Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt is a fine salt that isn't too salty. The salt is needed to balance out the sugar and bring out the flavours in this ice cream. If using table salt, add half the amount.

Incorporating pumpkin in ice cream

I am convinced that the best ice creams start with a crème anglaise. This ice cream starts with a custard base, also known as a crème anglaise. Once the custard sauce has thickened on the stove, it's combined with pumpkin purée to make a pumpkin crème anglaise.

You can use homemade pumpkin purée or canned. I prefer to use homemade pumpkin purée, which has a better flavour. Just don't use canned pumpkin filling for this recipe because it already has spices added and may even have sugar too. This would throw off the recipe completely so make sure to check the ingredients on the back of the can to make sure that the can only contains pumpkin.

Infusing ice cream with spices

Before heating the milk/cream to make the vanilla crème anglaise, the spices are added to the milk mixture to help infuse it with the flavours of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg. It's important to add the spices before heating the mixture to give enough time to extract the flavours into the milk. This way you get the most flavour out of them.

You'll notice this recipe is quite heavy on the spices. You could add less of them or smaller quantities, but I find with frozen desserts, the flavour needs to be bold in order to taste it because it's served very cold, which makes it very hard for flavours to come through.

Substitutions

If you want to modify this recipe or use it as a jumping off points, here are some suggestions:

• replace the spices with masala chai (the tea) and infuse the milk with masala tea, which contains black tea as well as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc. (spices depend on blend used)
• change the spices used, like remove the cinnamon and add cardamom instead
• skip the spices altogether to make a vanilla pumpkin ice cream
• replace the pumpkin purée with mashed sweet potato for a sweet potato ice cream. Use the same weight/volume as the pumpkin in the recipe

Really, there are so many ways to modify this recipe. Get creative!

Ice cream storage tips

I highly recommend investing in a freezer container for your ice cream. I have a Tovolo ice cream tub that has an elongated shape, giving you ample room to drag the ice cream scoop more easily! The base is non-slip, so you have more traction when scooping and it's double walled for better storage.

📖 Recipe

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Pumpkin Ice Cream

Make pumpkin ice cream, a fun ice cream flavour for fall that's easier to make than pumpkin pie! It's also a great way to use up leftover pumpkin purée!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 360kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 180 grams pumpkin purée
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 200 grams light brown sugar divided
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 5 mL vanilla bean paste
• 5 mL ground cinnamon
• 2.5 mL ground ginger
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 1.25 mL ground allspice
• 0.625 mL ground cloves
• 0.625 mL ground nutmeg

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• Before you begin to cook the ice cream base, place the pumpkin purée in a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup (or a big bowl preferably with a pouring spout). Set a strainer over top. Set aside
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until the mixture has lightened.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk, cream, vanilla bean paste, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached 83 °C (181 °F).
• Pour the mixture through the strainer, pressing the custard through gently, if needed.
• Stir the strained custard with the pumpkin purée at the bottom of the bowl (or measuring cup). Cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate the pumpkin custard base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take about 15 to 20 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream has reached the desired consistency. Turn off the machine, disassemble, and transfer the ice cream to a container. Place in freezer for a few hours to finish chilling before serving.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Serve this pumpkin ice cream with pie crust cookies for a dessert that tastes just like pumpkin pie!

Nutrition

Calories: 360kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 228mg | Sodium: 222mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 964IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 166mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Pumpkin ice cream appeared first on The Bake School.

General timeframe for churning ice cream at home

Before you get started making ice cream, you need to know the general steps and the timeline. Ice cream is fairly simple to make at home BUT there's a lot of waiting involved and you need to space out each step to achieve the best results:

1. > 1 day ahead: place the bowl for your ice cream machine in the freezer and freeze it for at least 24 hours before using it (this step is for most machines, which aren't self-cooling and don't have a compressor)
2. 1 day ahead: prepare the ice cream base the day before you want to churn it and chill the mixture overnight (at least 12 hours)—this step is called "curing"
3. the big day: assemble your ice cream maker and churn the cured ice cream base mixture until it is a soft-serve consistency according to the machine's instructions—this step takes about 15 minutes, depending on your machine, and this step is called "churning"
4. + 4 hours: freeze the freshly churned ice cream in a container in the freezer, undisturbed, for at least 4 hours before serving to harden the ice cream and achieve a more firm, scoopable consistency. The process is called "hardening"

Types of ice cream

There are two types of ice cream you can make at home and the ingredients in each ice cream base is what sets them apart:

1. Custard-based ice cream is based on a crème anglaise or a cooked custard base that combines egg yolks, sugar, milk, and cream. The custard base is cooked on the stove to thicken it, then chilled overnight before churning
2. Philadelphia-style ice cream has no eggs, but has the same other ingredients, so milk, sugar, and cream

The role of the ingredients

Before you churn your first batch of ice cream, it might be tempting to use less cream or less sugar but each ingredient in an ice cream base plays a role and serves a purpose. Learn what each ice cream ingredient does:

Cream

Using cream to make ice cream is really important because cream contributes fat and that fat helps you:

• incorporate air, giving ice cream a lighter, less dense texture, making it easier to scoop, just like when you whip cream, the fat helps you form stable bubbles of air, when you churn ice cream, the fat allows you to form stable air bubbles that lighten the mixture so that it is pliable and scoopable when frozen
• reduce melting so scoops hold their shape longer as the ice cream warms up because while ice will melt to water as your ice cream thaws, the butterfat won't liquify because essentially, you've frozen whipped cream through the churning process

To be considered ice cream, the mixture should contain more than 10 % butterfat. Some premium ice creams have as much as 18 % fat, while some less expensive products have closer to 10 %.

The fat also contributes a lot of flavour to ice cream because not all flavours are water-soluble and sometimes fat is better at absorbing those flavours.

Milk

Milk provides more protein to the mixture and that protein helps trap water. When the milk is heated to make the ice cream base, some of the proteins will unravel (in a process known as denaturation) and those proteins are then free to bind some of the loose water in the mixture. When the water is bound, it can't form large ice crystals during the freezing process and so the protein contributes to a less icy ice cream, actually.

Some ice cream makers might include in their base recipes powdered milk or other sources high in milk protein. Cream cheese also provides a lot of milk proteins.

You might be wondering where the water in ice cream comes from: it comes from the dairy products you use, as well as the egg yolks. The water is inevitable so ice cream recipes are designed to help you trap that water so that it can't form as many crystals and so that your ice cream doesn't melt so quickly.

Knowing that most ice cream should contain between 10 and 20 % fat, you could easily use a combination of milk and cream to get that fat content, or you could opt for half-and-half to replace both. Half-and-half is usually 10 to 18 % fat. Since I find whole milk and 35 % cream are more widely available than half-and-half and low fat cream variants, the ice cream recipes on this site are made with a mixture of milk and cream to make them more accessible.

Sugar

Sugar provides sweetness to ice cream and helps bring out the flavours. But the role of sugar goes way beyond taste. Sugar binds water, thereby lowering the freezing point of the ice cream i.e. lowers the melting point: less ice forms and the ice cream is softer when frozen in your freezer.

For the reasons above, you can't mess too much with the quantity of sugar in ice cream recipes. If you do, you risk making ice cream that has larger ice crystals and a more icy texture.

Some ice cream recipes call for adding glucose or corn syrup to the mixture. Remember that sugar is sucrose. Sucrose binds water, but glucose can bind more water molecules than sucrose. For this reason, adding glucose or other invert sugars like corn syrup or honey will help you improve the texture of ice cream, reducing the free water in the ice cream base, resulting in less ice crystals.

Emulsifiers

Egg yolks

Egg yolks, like dairy, provide lots of protein to ice cream bases and that protein will help bind the water and the fat in the mixture. That's why they are called emulsifiers because they help fat and water co-habitate. Egg yolks usually represent 5 to 10 % of the ice cream base by weight. You'll see most recipes have about 5 egg yolks per 1 kilo of ice cream base, so 5 times 20 grams per yolk, which works out to 100 grams of yolks, or 10 % by weight.

Other emulsifiers

Milk powder, as mentioned above, is great at trapping water and binds fat, so it's a great emulsifier. You will notice that milk powder is used in Philadelphia style ice creams that don't have egg yolks. This buttered popcorn ice cream is a Philadelphia style ice cream, though the recipe doesn't call for milk powder instead of egg yolks.

If you read the labels of ice cream and frozen dessert products, you might see other emulsifiers like lecithin, mono- or diglycerides, etc.

Stabilizers

Stabilizer ingredients bind water so they help reduce melting. Simple household examples are:

• milk powder
• gelatin
• cream cheese
• gums (like xanthan and guar gum)
• starches (like tapioca starch or cornstarch)

There are other ingredients that act as stabilizer, trapping water, but you are less likely to use them in a home setting. Still, you might see them on ice cream labels and you don't have to be alarmed. These ingredients, like emulsifiers, are there to improve the texture and stability of the product so that less goes to waste!

Flavouring elements

Vanilla

Most ice cream bases are flavoured with vanilla bean or vanilla extract. You can use artificiial, store-bought or even homemade vanilla extract. As you know, a common substitute for vanilla extract and vanilla beans is vanilla bean paste, which provides the flavour of the extract with the signature flecks of vanilla seeds we've come to expect from vanilla flavoured products:

• If you are making ice cream with vanilla extract, add the extract AFTER you take the ice cream base off of the heat
• If you are making ice cream with vanilla bean (pod and seeds), add the scraped pod and seeds to the milk BEFORE heating it
• If you are making ice cream with vanilla bean paste, you can add it BEFORE or AFTER you take the ice cream base off of the heat because it's a mixture of extract and seeds

Salt

You can't make ice cream without salt. Well, actually, you can, but it might taste a little bland. Salt is a very common baking ingredient because it makes the flavours pop and balances out the sweetness. Some ice cream contains a fair bit of salt. Don't be afraid. But remember that fine kosher salt isn't the same as table salt and that fine kosher salt (like Diamond Crystal brand) is half as salty as table salt, so make sure to use the right kind of salt or adjust accordingly!

Other flavours

I've flavoured ice cream with some fun and crazy flavour elements, like tea leaves for this masala chai ice cream, and even buttered popcorn. Consider the flavour element you are working with and how best to utilize it:

• delicate extracts or flower water (like rose water or orange blossom water) should be added AFTER you take the ice cream base off of the heat, and preferably when the mixture is cold. These ingredients are very delicate and break down with heat.
• tea leaves, spices or other ingredients that require heat to extract their flavour should be added BEFORE heating the ice cream base to give these ingredients enough time on the stove so that the milk can extract the flavour compounds. These ingredients include vanilla bean and tonka bean too, and even green cardamom to make cardamom ice cream.
• citrus zest should be added BEFORE heating the ice cream base to give the citrus oils a chance to release into the milk mixture. This is what you do to make lemon custard ice cream.
• alcohol can be added before or after heating the ice cream base
• chocolate, specifically use cocoa powder bloomed in hot cream and dark chocolate to make dark chocolate ice cream with an intense flavour.

Add-ins and when to add them

If you want to get really fancy with your ice cream making, you might consider throwing in some fun add-ins, like chopped nuts or chocolate, maraschino cherries, chunks of cake, one-bowl brownies, or chocolate chip cookies, etc. I folded chopped homemade chocolate chip cookies into a batch of vanilla custard base to make this cookie ice cream, which is a favourite of mine. You can fold pieces of brownies with walnuts into chocolate ice cream to make chocolate brownie ice cream!

If you add them into the machine towards the end of your churning session, this will evenly distribute the add-ins, but this will also crush them into smaller pieces, and more delicate inclusions, like maraschino cherries, will inevitably get crushed by the paddle and drum, turning your entire batch pink.

A better option would be to layer them in the container as you transfer the freshly churned ice cream to your storage container. So transfer a little ice cream, then add in a layer of inclusions, then a little more ice cream, and a little more inclusions, and repeat until you're done. I find layering works better than trying to fold the pieces into the soft ice cream because it's very soft and on the verge of melting, and therefore hard to handle. Layering is the way to go if you want to jazz up your ice cream!

You can use this technique to make this cherry bourbon ice cream.

Why do we churn ice cream?

Churning is done in a freezer bowl (also called a freezer drum or a Dewar) with a paddle attachment (like the paddle on your stand mixer). The machine turns the frozen bowl, which causes your chilled liquid ice cream base to fold over repeatedly. This encourages slow, even freezing of the mixture and the incorporation of air, leading to a lighter ice cream that is easier to scoop and that has smaller ice crystals.

Ice cream isn't difficult to make, but if you want to make your own at home, I encourage you to invest in an ice cream maker to churn it for you and make your life easier.

No churn methods

Yes, when making ice cream at home, you could go the no-churn route. Here's how:

• Method #1: whip the cream separately from the rest of the ingredients, then gently fold it all together. The whipped cream will help you incorporate air into the ice cream base. Then you can freeze this lightened mixture for about 6 hours until it's frozen solid. This method is similar to the method used to make this almond raspberry semifreddo.
• Method #2: freeze the ice cream mixture in a container and periodically whip it to incorporate air into the mixture before it freezes solid. The idea is to do the job of the ice cream maker, but by hand, trying to keep the ice crystals that form as small as possible to reduce the perceived iciness.
• Method #3: freeze the ice cream directly in a container in the freezer. Then when it's frozen solid, scrape it with a fork. Then refreeze it again before scooping. This is the technique I use for granita like this rosé champagne granita.

The trouble with these methods is that you may end up with larger ice crystals, which will make for a less-than-smooth mouthfeel. For some of these methods, the no-churn recipes may include sweetened condensed milk or even cream cheese. These provide additional ingredients that can help reduce ice crystal formation as the no-churn ice cream freezes. No churn ice creams sometimes have more sugar than churned ice cream, again to help make ice crystals smaller.

Personally, I vote for investing in an ice cream maker if you want to make homemade ice cream. It will make your ice cream-making journey so much easier!

When you're churning ice cream at home in an ice cream maker, you want to make sure you don't over-churn it: homemade ice cream has a fairly high butter fat content and that fat can turn to solid flecks of butter if you churn the custard for a little too long. Professionals refer to ice cream with solid fat particles as being "buttered."

It's surprisingly easy to end up with butter pieces in your ice cream. Be sure to check the manufacturer's instructions for how long they recommend to churn homemade ice cream. I've found that it can take as little as 15 minutes in my machine. Sometimes 20 minutes results in butter flecks. Not the end of the world, but not ideal!

How much churning is enough?

When you churn your first batch of ice cream, I encourage you to observe how the custard changes textures as the mixture churns:

1. When you first pour the custard into the ice cream machine, the custard is thick but fluid like a crème anglaise (the French pastry term for custard sauce), and completely smooth
2. After about 5 minutes, you'll notice that the custard has formed a thin frozen layer of ice cream all around the inside of the Dewar (freezer drum). That thin film of ice cream gets scraped off by the paddle of the machine and worked into the custard as the mixture churns. The custard becomes thicker and less fluid
3. After about 10 minutes, the ice cream resembles a melted soft serve texture with tiny little ice crystals throughout
4. After 15 minutes, the ice cream resembles thick soft serve that holds its shape but is still soft if you dip your spoon in. You can scoop it, though it is soft. This is the point when I stop it
5. After 20 minutes or more, you may end up with little flecks of butter, depending on the speed of your machine, the fat content, the temperature, and other factors
6. After 25 minutes, with models that use a frozen ice cream drum, that Dewar is beginning to thaw, enough so that it won't be freezing the mixture as well after this point. I don't recommend running this type of machine for more than 25 minutes because the drum loses its ability to freeze as it's warmed up for too long.

Ice cream machines

Ice cream machines are all based on the same principle: you have a chilling canister (like a deep bowl) with a paddle. In many cases, the bowl turns and the paddle is fixed, allowing the ice cream to turn over in the machine and slowly incorporate air. In other cases, the bowl is fixed and the paddle turns.

Most machines designed for home use only have one speed. It's a slow churn, but it's enough to incorporate air into the mixture in a controlled fashion, while cooling the mixture down below 0 ºC.

Equipment that requires freezing ahead

Most people (myself included) own ice cream machines that are simple, reliable, and affordable. Unfortunately, these models require that you freeze the bowl of the machine in the freezer for at least 24 hours before churning a batch. This takes up space in your freezer because the insulated walls of the bowl make it rather bulky. This also means that churning several batches of ice cream, back-to-back, isn't possible, unless you invest in multiple freezer bowls.

Simple ice cream machines only have one speed, which means you have zero control over how fast the ice cream churns. On the other hand, if you have a stand mixer, you might be able to invest in a freezer bowl attachment for the mixer you own: you freeze the bowl 24 hours before churning, then attach it to your mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. This way you can use this one appliance to not only make cakes and cookies, but also frozen desserts. Your stand mixer will allow you to explore different churning speeds too!

For the line of KitchenAid stand mixers, KitchenAid makes special freezer bowls and beaters so that you can make ice cream with your stand mixer:

• if you own a KitchenAid mixer, you can find the ice cream freezer bowl on Amazon (comes with special churning paddle). According to KitchenAid, the bowl model KICA0WH fits most stand mixers (Bowl Lift and Tilt Head type):
  • 4.5 quart
  • 5 quart
  • 6 quart

Product recommendation:

Cuisinart makes an ice cream machine that is just under $100 on Amazon. This machine has over 5,000 reviews so you know it's a solid investment.

You can buy an extra freezer bowl for this model on Amazon and though the machine already comes with a bowl, if you want to churn more than 1 batch in a short period of time, I highly recommend investing in the second bowl since one bowl allows you to churn 1 batch of ice cream in a 24 hour period. Two bowls would allow you to chill two flavours, one after the other.

Self-freezing models

Full-disclosure, self-freezing ice cream machines are expensive. I don't own one for this reason. We're talking hundreds of dollars for a machine like this. However, if you want to make ice cream a few times a month, I would consider investing in these more expensive machines. A self-freezing ice cream machine is a tabletop appliance that is quite large because it has a compressor that cools the freezer drum for you. This way you don't have to freeze the bowl in advance.

Self-freezing models are super convenient and allow you to churn batch after batch easily, but they are pricey. Self-freezing ice cream machines are sold between $300 and $800, depending on the brand. Another problem with self-freezing ice cream makers with compressors: some reviewers mention that they can be harder to clean though the pricey Breville ice cream machine on Amazon has a freezer bowl and attachments that go in the dishwasher.

Not sure which machine you own?

If you already own a machine and you are unsure which you model you have, here are a few clues to figuring it out:

1. Did you purchase the machine brand new and it cost under $200? If so, you probably have a machine that requires you to freeze the bowl in the freezer 24 hours. Self-freezing models cost over $400 as a rule.
2. Is your machine about the size of a basic food processor?
   1. If it is, you probably have a machine that requires you to freeze the bowl for 24 hours prior to churning.
   2. If the machine is much larger, like double that size, you probably have a self-cooling model. Lucky you!

📖 Recipe

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Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Homemade vanilla bean ice cream is easy to make from a simple vanilla-infused custard base with this recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 360kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) divided
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 150 grams granulated sugar divided
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 5 mL vanilla bean paste
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• Before you begin to cook the ice cream base, place 250 mL (1 cup) of the cold whipping cream in a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup (or a big bowl preferably with a pouring spout). Set a strainer over top. Set aside
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until the mixture is a very pale yellow and very light.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk, the vanilla bean paste, the salt, and the rest of the cream. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached at least 83 ºC (181 ºF).
• Pour the mixture through the strainer, pressing the custard through gently, if needed.
• Cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate the vanilla bean custard base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take over 15 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream has reached the desired consistency. Turn off the machine, disassemble, and transfer the ice cream to a container. Place in freezer for a few hours to finish chilling.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 360kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 228mg | Sodium: 222mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 964IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 166mg | Iron: 1mg

How to store ice cream

Once you've churned a batch of ice cream, it's important to store it in the freezer. To do so, transfer the freshly churned soft ice cream to an airtight container (of at least 1-litre capacity). I like the Tovolo ice cream tubs that are large enough to fit one batch of homemade ice cream. Before putting the lid on, make sure to cover the surface of the ice cream with plastic wrap and press the plastic wrap directly onto the entire surface of the ice cream. Close the container with the lid and store the ice cream in the freezer.

The plastic wrap is important to prevent ice crystal from forming on the surface of the ice cream. You can also press a piece of parchment onto the surface.

Troubleshooting homemade ice cream

Improving the texture

Custard base has bits of cooked egg in it

The trick to cooking crème anglaise so that it's silky smooth is to stir it constantly on medium–low or even low heat. Low and slow is best for crème anglaise, unlike a pastry cream like this vanilla bean pastry cream, for example.

So when making a crème anglaise, stirring constantly, you heat the mixture gently until it thickens. Many ask how do you know when it's done? You know you've cooked the crème anglaise enough when you give it a good stir and immediately lift the spoon: the sauce stops swirling almost immediately. Uncooked crème anglaise would keep spinning around and around with the momentum of stirring. A cooked crème anglaise won't be so fluid, though still silky smooth.

If you strain your custard ice cream base and find bits of cooked egg yolk in the strainer, it means you overcooked it. Either you didn't stir enough and the egg cooked on the bottom or you overheated the whole mixture and the egg cooked. Crème anglaise is ready somewhere between 77 and 83 ºC (170 and 183 ºF).

Do not bring the mixture to a boil! If you do, your eggs will probably cook and you'll end up with chunks of egg in your ice cream base.

What to do if your ice cream base has bits of egg?

If you overcook your ice cream custard base, you will strain away the egg bits. The texture won't be perfect because you've essentially removed a lot of the egg from the recipe. Still, you can make the ice cream and nobody will know. Also, your yield will be lower because if you overcooked the custard, you probably evaporated more of the water in the ice cream base.

Making it softer

You'll notice that homemade ice cream freezes quite hard, due to a combination of our home freezers chilling to lower temperatures than commercial ice cream display cases. Commercial ice cream display cases are chilled to the perfect scooping temperature, but they aren't great for long term storage because they are a little too warm for that.

Commercial ice cream is also softer because commercial machines are better at incorporating more air into the ice cream, yielding a lighter, less dense product. Commercial ice cream may also include softening ingredients, like gums, starches, or other stabilizers that improve the texture of the product.

add more sugar

Turns out the less sugar you add to your ice cream base, the harder the ice cream will freeze. Sugar increases the freezing temperature of ice cream, meaning that it freezes solid at a higher (warmer) temperature. With less sugar, ice cream is more likely to freeze hard, making it hard to scoop.

Put another way, the more sugar in your ice cream, the lower the freezing temperature of your ice cream, which means that it will be softer at colder temperatures. Of course, there's a limit to how much sugar you would want to add, flavour-wise. But if you've experimenting with cutting back the quantity of sugar in your ice creams or sorbets, your final product will freeze hard and be difficult to scoop.

add a little alcohol

Alcohol lowers the freezing point of ice cream, meaning that the ice cream will stay softer at lower temperatures. The caveat with incorporating alcohol into ice cream bases is that a little goes a long way. I once added too much rum to a batch of rum raisin ice cream and it wouldn't freeze. I ended up with a very boozy milkshake.

If you want to try this, add 15–45 mL (1 to 3 tablespoons) of alcohol (40 % alcohol), like rum, bourbon, or whiskey to a recipe that makes about 1 litre (4 cups) of ice cream and see how the texture is affected. You'd be surprised to find that a little goes a long way!

For lower-proof liqueurs (20 % alcohol), like amaretto or coffee liqueur, you can add more, double the amount in fact, but remember these also add quite a bit of sugar, so you might have to adjust your ice cream base recipe.

Making ice cream with smaller ice crystals

Believe it or not, but almost 50 % of ice cream is water and if you aren't careful, that water will form big ice crystals in your ice cream, ruining the flavour and that creamy mouthfeel we look for. There's nothing worse than icy ice cream that has detectable ice crystals that are literally frozen water and flavourless. Controlling the size of ice crystals is a pivotal part of making ice cream because the ice crystals need to be there, but they need to be so small that you don't detect them as you enjoy your ice cream. Controlling the ice formation in ice cream is a science, just like when you want to control the crystallization of sugar when making homemade maple fudge, for example. So how do you minimize large ice crystals and keep them small?

• By churning or mixing the mixture as it chills: when you freeze ice cream, undisturbed, like when you make semifreddo or use certain no-churn methods, ice crystals have the opportunity to form and build up into a large, intricate structure if you don't physically disturb the freezing process by mixing as the ice cream freezes. The churning process physically breaks apart ice crystals as they form, dispersing them evenly throughout the mixture
• By freezing the ice cream quickly: the faster your ice cream is churned/frozen, the less time you give ice crystals to pile up into large ice crystals. That's the big advantage of commercial ice cream machines that can churn a batch in under 10 minutes! Faster churn means less ice formation
• By incorporating ingredients that trap or bind water, thereby preventing the water from crystallizing into large crystals of ice.

Ice cream leaves waxy coating in mouth

This has happened to me a few times and I think it happens when the ice cream has been churned for too long and the ice cream is buttered, meaning the fat globules have merged to form butter, which in term leaves a waxy coating in your mouth as you eat the ice cream. This has nothing to do with how much cream you used, but more to do with how long you churned the ice cream for.

There's nothing wrong with overchurned ice cream and you can still eat it, but the waxy coating is a textural defect (and a bit of a nuisance for your tastebuds). Next time, try churning your ice cream less and see if that helps.

Ice cream taking too long to churn

Ice cream takes a while to churn, about 15 minutes in most ice cream machines that we use at home. If you find that after 15 to 20 minutes, your ice cream still isn't a soft serve consistency, you might not be able to get it to "thicken" further in the ice cream machine. There's a problem.

1. It could be that your freezer drum wasn't frozen for long enough prior to churning
2. It could be that your ice cream base wasn't chilled long enough before churning.

In both cases, because there's too big of a temperature gap, getting the custard to churn/freeze properly will be nearly impossible.

Next time:

1. freeze the bowl of the machine for over 24 hours before churning. Most manufacturers recommend 24 hours, but I prefer to give the freezer drum 2 full days in the freezer before I churn a batch with it. This way I'm sure it's frozen solid. To check that the freezer bowl is frozen, give it a shake: if you hear any liquid sloshing inside the walls of the bowl, it isn't frozen solid!
2. chill the ice cream base in the fridge for 12 hours before churning to ensure that the base is as cold as possible before you pour it into the machine. This means that the ice cream will freeze faster because the temperature change will be less drastic than if you churned warm ice cream base.

You might have trouble freezing ice cream properly for other reasons, like if your ratios of ingredients are off:

• did you add alcohol to the ice cream base? You may have added too much and that's why your ice cream won't!
  • Remember ice cream lowers the freezing point and if you added a ton of alcohol (40 % like rum or whiskey), it won't freeze. The freezing point of 40 % alcohol is –27 ºC. Think about how cold that is. It's colder than the temperature of your freezer, which is probably set somewhere around –18 to –22 ºC.
  • If your ice cream has a high proportion of alcohol, you'd have to chill it to a temperature below the temperature of your freezer. At home, that would be next to impossible without resorting to dry ice or other freezing methods.
• did you add more sugar than the recipe suggested? Too much sugar will impede the freezing process of ice cream.
  • Just like not adding enough sugar will result in ice cream that freezes so hard it is difficult to scoop, too much sugar will make it impossible to properly churn and freeze your ice cream

Making homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker

It is possible to make homemade ice cream without owning a machine. It's called no-churn ice cream. Most recipes are based on a mixture of 35 % cream whipped to firm peaks and folded with sweetened condensed milk and flavour agents (vanilla extract or other flavours, as well as add-ins like pieces of cookie dough, chopped leftover cookies, sprinkles, chopped leftover cake, maraschino cherries, etc.)

I've also tested a method similar to the method used to make granita (like you can see in this watermelon granita recipe). The ice cream base is mixed, transferred to a container, closed, and placed in the freezer. Then you scrape it every few hours with a fork to mix it so that the ice cream chills more evenly, to incorporate air as it chills, and also to make smaller ice crystals. After about 6 hours, you can then scoop the ice cream and serve it. This method isn't perfect, but it works.

Recommended cookbooks about ice cream

• Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree, available for purchase on Amazon
• The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, available for purchase on Amazon

The post How to make the best ice cream at home appeared first on The Bake School.

Once you've mastered making vanillla ice cream, you can start folding in a variety of different add-ins (also called inclusions) to make your favourite ice cream flavours.

Read up on how to make crème anglaise before making this recipe if you've never done it before!

Types of cookies to mix into ice cream

You can literally chop up any type of cookie and toss it into your next batch of cookie ice cream. That's the beauty of it! This means that if you have leftover homemade cookies or even store-bought cookies, you can fold them into a batch of ice cream to make this fun dessert.

One thing to remember is that when foods are frozen, the flavours end up a little muted, it's important to opt for cookies that have a strong flavour, like:

• chocolate chip cookies with a good amount of salt in them
• peanut butter cookies, or better yet flourless peanut butter cookies (because the lack of flour gives these cookies a more pronounced peanut flavour)
• molasses crinkle cookies because the molasses flavour is strong and can stand up to the vanilla base and stand out even when frozen
• soft chocolate sugar cookies because the chocolate flavour will provide a good contrast with the creamy vanilla ice cream base
• Oreo cookies, if you are going for a "cookies and cream" ice cream—a classic combination that can't be beat

Chop cookie pieces small

Really, any cookies will work if you chop them up. Not only will they add an interesting flavour, they will also bring texture to the ice cream. I like to chop the cookie pieces to different sizes in order to have finer crumbs that mix in completely and larger chunks. I especially like the texture the sandy smaller bits of cookie bring.

I prepared to make this batch of cookie ice cream last time I made chocolate chip cookies. I chopped up and froze about 300 grams of the cookies to use in ice cream later. This way the cookies were ready to go and all I had to do was make the custard.

For the cookie pieces, make sure you chop them small enough. If the pieces are too big, they can damage your ice cream machine, which is most likely equipped with a plastic paddle.

Furthermore, because it's likely your cookie inclusions were made with butter, butter freezes hard and brittle, which means larger pieces will be impossible to bite into. Make sure to chop the cookie pieces small enough so that people don't have a hard time eating the ice cream.

Ice cream base for cookie ice cream

I often see cookie dough or cookie ice creams made with Philadelphia style ice cream bases, meaning eggless, but I still prefer the depth of flavour a crème anglaise base brings to ice cream.

In this recipe, I use is my go-to vanilla bean ice cream base. Dark chocolate ice cream would also make a great base for this recipe.

If you prefer to skip the egg yolks, you can modify this buttered popcorn ice cream, skipping the popcorn infusion step.

To give the base a warm vanilla flavour, I used a vanilla bean paste that combines vanilla extract with flecks of vanilla bean. You could also opt to infuse the custard with vanilla beans if you have them or use pure vanilla extract, remember that depending on the type of vanilla you are using, you need to add them at different stages of the recipe:

• vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste are better added after heating the mixture
• vanilla beans need to be added before heating because the heat helps you extract the flavour.

And if you prefer brownies to cookies, you can always fold in a few cups of chunks of brownies with walnuts. Check out how to make chocolate brownie ice cream if you want a chocolate-on-chocolate experience.

📖 Recipe

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Cookie Ice Cream

Chopped cookies are stir into freshly churned homemade vanilla bean ice cream to make this easy recipe for cookie ice cream!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 360kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) divided
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 150 grams granulated sugar divided
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 5 mL vanilla bean paste
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 250 grams cookies crumbled or chopped into pieces of different sizes

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• Before you begin to cook the ice cream base, place 250 mL (1 cup) of the cold whipping cream in a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup (or a big bowl preferably with a pouring spout). Set a strainer over top. Set aside
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until the mixture is a very pale yellow and very light.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk, the vanilla bean paste, the salt, and the rest of the cream. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached 83 °C (181 °F).
• Pour the mixture through the strainer, pressing the custard through gently, if needed.
• Cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate the vanilla bean custard base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take over 15 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• Add the chopped cookies to the ice cream machine to mix them in, just before stopping the machine. Your machine may struggle to incorporate the mix-ins if it's too full. In that case, use a spatula to fold them in by hand.
• When the ice cream has reached the desired consistency. Turn off the machine, disassemble, and transfer the ice cream to a container. Place in freezer for a few hours to finish chilling.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For this recipe, feel free to use:
  • spelt chocolate chip cookies
  • chewy oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips
  • flourless peanut butter cookies
  • blueberry oatmeal cookies with white chocolate
  • cocoa nib shortbread cookies
  • molasses crinkle cookies
  • chocolate sugar cookies
  • gingerbread cutout cookies

Nutrition

Calories: 360kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 228mg | Sodium: 222mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 964IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 166mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Cookie ice cream appeared first on The Bake School.

Ingredients you need to make this recipe

Homemade ice cream can be either Philadelphia style (without eggs) or custard-based (made with egg yolks). For this mint chip ice cream recipe, we are making a custard base, so a crème anglaise. To do so, you will need:

• Milk and cream, preferably 2 % fat or even 3.25 % fat whole milk and whipping cream with 35 % fat. You can play with the amount of fat in this recipe, but less fat will have an impact on the final texture and flavour. The ice cream may taste a little more watery with less fat.
• Egg yolks to make the crème anglaise, which act as an emulsifier and a thickener in this recipe, providing body, as well as colour and flavour.
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar because it won't interfere with the delicate flavour of the mint. Don't skimp on the sugar or your ice cream may end up too icy and the texture won't be as nice.
• Fine kosher salt, which dissolves easily and provides a little depth of flavour, helping the flavours in the ice cream stand out more.
• Fresh mint and/or mint extract or mint oil to infuse the milk before making the crème anglaise. You will need a lot of fresh mint for this recipe!
• Chocolate, chocolate chips or chopped chocolate.

Special equipment

To make the best homemade ice cream, I highly recommend getting an ice cream machine. When you are shopping, you have three choices:

• a freezer bowl attachment that is compatible with your stand mixer and that you can use with the paddle attachment (like this KitchenAid freezer bowl compatible with the Artisan stand mixers)
• an ice cream machine with a freezer bowl that has to be frozen for at least 24 hours before using the machine (like this basic Cuisinart machine that has great reviews on Amazon)
• an ice cream machine with a built in compressor so you can make ice cream any time of the day and all day long if you want, without worrying about pre-freezing the bowl. This is the most expensive category of ice cream makers on the market, but if you like to make homemade ice cream, you might want to consider it to make your life easier! I would! Whynter makes an ice cream machine with a compressor built into it and it has over a thousand reviews on Amazon.

The beauty of the ice cream machines with built in compressors is that they allow you to churn multiple batches of ice cream in a row. On the other hand, a freezer bowl can only be used to churn one batch, at which point it has to be frozen again in the freezer before using it again.

Ways of infusing a custard with mint flavour

The most straight-foward way to make mint-flavoured ice cream is to heat the milk with fresh mint to infuse it, prior to making the custard base. To do so, you need to use a lot of mint. I recommend at least 30 grams (1 ounce) of fresh mint (leaves plus stems) to infuse this volume of liquid (750 mL or 3 cups total).

Other options for adding mint flavour to ice cream include mint extracts or mint oil, which also can do a good job of adding flavour to the custard base. Just remember with extracts and oils:

• the flavour is more concentrated and a little goes a long way.
• add the extract/oil after cooking the custard base, preferably after it has cooled down to avoid the volatile compounds breaking down from the heat of the stove.

Incorporating chocolate chips and chunks in ice cream and frozen desserts

The trouble with adding chopped chocolate to ice cream and frozen desserts is that pretty much all chocolate that is sold commercially is tempered, whether it's for baking (as pistoles, fèves, chips, or chunks), or for eating (as chocolate bars).

Tempered chocolate is chocolate that has been recrystallized (meaning solid chocolate that was melted and cooled to solidify it again). Tempering is done to make the chocolate more stable, so that the chocolate doesn't melt in your hands too quickly. The recrystallization process known as tempering produces a more stable product.

It's very important to temper chocolate that is going to be handled or held in the hand because it increases the melting point, meaning it takes more heat to melt the chocolate.

The drawback to tempered chocolate is that if you add it to ice cream and other frozen desserts, the products are stored at -20 ºC, roughly, which is so cold the chocolate completely loses that melt-in-your-mouth quality.

Tempered chocolate that is frozen seems dry and brittle when you eat it. It also seems almost flavourless because many of the flavour compounds require melting and heat to properly enjoy them.

Tricks to make frozen chocolate more palatable

If you want to incorporate chocolate in a frozen dessert like this mint chocolate chip ice cream, you have options, that yield different results. It's up to you which road you take and what method you want to use to add pieces of chocolate to ice cream:

1. add chopped dark chocolate directly to churned ice cream, but the frozen chocolate may seem dry and won't have a melt-in-your-mouth quality that you may want.
2. melt the chocolate and swirl it into churned ice cream before hardening (melting will undo the tempering of the chocolate, making it more prone to melting after it hardens again). 
3. melt the chocolate and spread it out thin on a parchment-lined sheet, allowing it to set hard before breaking it into shards and adding to churned ice cream.
4. melt the chocolate with a small amount of a neutral oil (7.5 mL or 1.5 teaspoons of canola oil for every 85 grams of chocolate). Again either swirl the melted mixture in the churned ice cream or let it set and break it up into shards that you can fold into churned ice cream.

Substitutions

If you want to make this recipe, there are a few changes you can make:

1. replace fresh mint with mint extract. I'd recommend roughly 1.25 mL (¼ teaspoon) of mint extract for this volume of ice cream, but the amount you add is entirely dependant on how minty you want the ice cream to be and also the type of extract you use. For this substitution, add the extract after you are done cooking the custard.
2. replace fresh mint with mint oil. I'd recommend roughly 1.25 mL (¼ teaspoon) of mint oil for this volume of ice cream, but the amount you add is entirely dependant on how minty you want the ice cream to be and also the type of oiil you use. For this substitution, add the mint oil after you are done cooking the custard.
3. replace dark chocolate with milk chocolate or even white chocolate. Use the same weight of chocolate as suggested in the recipe.
4. replace the dark chocolate with chopped chocolate wafer cookies. Chopped Oreos would work really well in this recipe! I recommend using 250 grams (2 cups) cookies crumbled or chopped into pieces of different sizes in this recipe, as in the cookie ice cream recipe.

Ice cream storage

I highly recommend investing in a freezer container for your ice cream. I have a Tovolo ice cream tub that has an elongated shape, giving you ample room to drag the ice cream scoop more easily! The base is non-slip, so you have more traction when scooping and it's double walled for better storage.

Frequently asked questions

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Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Chopped chocolate is stirred into freshly churned homemade mint ice cream to make this easy recipe for one of the most popular ice cream flavours, mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 457kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) plus more
• 30 grams mint leaves
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 150 grams granulated sugar divided
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 1.25 mL mint extract
• 85 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) grated or chopped into pieces of different sizes, see note below recipe

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• Before you begin to cook the ice cream base, set a strainer over a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup (or a big bowl preferably with a pouring spout). Set aside
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the milk, the cream, and the mint leaves. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Take the mixture off the heat and let the mixture infuse for about an hour.
• Strain the mixture into the measuring cup. If the volume is less than 750 mL, top it up with more milk. You want 750 mL of combined milk and cream to make this ice cream recipe.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until the mixture is a very pale yellow and very light.
• Transfer the strained infused milk back into the medium saucepan. Whisk in the rest of the sugar and the salt. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached 83 °C (181 °F).
• Pour the mixture through the strainer, pressing the custard through gently, if needed. Stir in the mint extract.
• Cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate the mint custard base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take over 15 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream has reached the desired consistency, add the chopped chocolate (if using) to the ice cream machine to mix it in, just before stopping the machine.
• Turn off the machine, disassemble, and transfer the ice cream to a container, layering swirls of melted chocolate as you transfer (if using melted chocolate). Place in freezer for a few hours to harden the ice cream before serving.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the chocolate in this recipe, you have options:

1. add chopped dark chocolate directly to churned ice cream, but the frozen chocolate may seem dry and won't have a melt-in-your-mouth quality that you may want.
2. melt the chocolate and swirl it into churned ice cream before hardening (melting will undo the tempering of the chocolate, making it more prone to melting after it hardens again). 
3. melt the chocolate and spread it out thin on a parchment-lined sheet, allowing it to set hard before breaking it into shards and adding to churned ice cream.
4. melt the chocolate with a small amount of a neutral oil (7.5 mL or 1.5 teaspoons of canola oil for every 85 grams of chocolate). Again either swirl the melted mixture in the churned ice cream or let it set and break it up into shards that you can fold into churned ice cream.
5. For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate

Nutrition

Calories: 457kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 241mg | Sodium: 225mg | Potassium: 282mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 1313IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Mint chocolate chip ice cream appeared first on The Bake School.

This popcorn ice cream recipe is from the book Hello, My Name is Ice Cream (from Amazon) by Dana Cree. I "settled" on the popcorn ice cream recipe on page 92 because it's not made from egg yolks like I am accustomed to. This recipe makes a different style of ice cream, an egg-less ice cream called Philadelphia-style ice cream!

Feel free to read my book review of Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream

Ingredients For Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream

Philadelphia ice creams are not thickened with egg yolks the way crème anglaise-based ice cream is. Instead, this recipe is made from just cream, milk, sugars, and a stabilizer:

• Milk and cream, preferably 2 % fat or even 3.25 % fat whole milk and whipping cream with 35 % fat. You can play with the amount of fat in this recipe, but less fat will have an impact on the final texture and flavour. The ice cream may taste a little more watery with less fat.
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar because it won't interfere with the delicate flavour of the buttered popcorn. Don't skimp on the sugar, or your ice cream may end up too icy, and the texture won't be as nice.
• Glucose, which can bind more water molecules than sucrose (granulated sugar). For this reason, adding glucose or other invert sugars like corn syrup or honey will help you improve the texture of ice cream, reducing the free water in the ice cream base, and resulting in fewer ice crystals.
• Fine kosher salt, which dissolves easily and provides a little depth of flavour. Salt helps the flavours in the ice cream stand out more.
• Stabilizer, like cornstarch or tapioca starch, which helps with the texture of the ice cream by trapping water. This helps delay melting when you serve and eat the ice cream, and it also reduces the number of larger ice crystals.

How To Infuse Ice Cream With Popcorn Flavour

This Philadelphia-style ice cream is infused with buttery popcorn. To do so, you first make popcorn in a big pot on the stove with clarified butter. Then you add the dairy and let it all steep so that the buttered popcorn flavour infuses into the milk.

Once the popcorn has steeped long enough, you can strain it out and then add in the stabilizer you want to use. Then you chill the ice cream base before churning.

If you want to learn more about making ice cream at home, check out this mega guide to how to make the best ice cream, with tips and tricks, and troubleshooting ideas if you run into problems along the way.

Equipment

I used an old Krups La Glacière ice cream maker to churn this batch of popcorn ice cream, but it is no longer in production. Dana Cree (and many others) recommends this Cuisinart model that you can get on Amazon. If I had the budget, I'd probably invest in this Breville model (available on Amazon) or the Cuisinart self-cooling ice cream machine. Both come with a built-in compressor so that you can avoid having to chill an ice cream drum for 24 hours. This machine chills itself!

More About Ice Cream

If you want to buy a copy of the ice cream book with this recipe, head over to Amazon to get yours! It's a keeper!

Other Ice Cream Recipes

You can use your freshly churned ice cream to make homemade ice cream sandwiches and ice cream strawberry shortcakes!

If you want to make different ice cream flavours, try cookie ice cream, mint chocolate chip ice cream, cherry bourbon ice cream, lemon custard ice cream, cardamom ice cream, or even spiced chai ice cream!

I think the next ice cream I'll make will be pumpkin sage. Dana Cree even covers how to make pumpkin purée at home—see, this book covers much of what you need to make great ice cream at home!

If you tried this recipe for the best popcorn ice cream (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe

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Popcorn Ice Cream

This recipe for popcorn ice cream is made from an eggless ice cream base (also known as Philadelphia-style ice cream), infused with freshly popped buttery popcorn for the ultimate buttered popcorn ice cream flavour.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 19 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 6

Calories 409kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 370 grams whipping cream (35 % fat) 37%
• 400 grams whole milk (3.25 % fat) 40%
• 150 grams granulated sugar 15%
• 50 grams Wilton glucose 5%
• 10 grams Clarified butter 1%
• 20 grams Raw popcorn kernels 2%
• 3.75 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• Texture agent of your choice I went with texture agent 3, which is tapioca starch—see notes below to know how much to use

Metric - US

Instructions

• Boil the dairy. Place the cream, milk, sugar, texture agent 1 if using (see notes below), and glucose in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium–high heat, and cook, whisking occasionally to discourage the milk from scorching, until it comes to a full rolling boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and continue cooking for 2 minutes and add texture agent 4 if using (see notes below), then set the pot aside in a warm place and add texture agent 3 if using (see notes below).
• Pop the popcorn. Place the clarified butter and popcorn in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Cover with a lid and cook until you hear the sound of the corn popping. Use pot holders to take hold of the handle in one hand and the lid in the other. Gently shake and swirl the pot around, keeping the bottom flush with the burner, to encourage even popping and avoid burnt spots. Continue until the sound of popping corn has slowed to less than one pop per second. Immediately remove the popcorn from the heat.
• Infuse. Working quickly, remove the lid from the popcorn pot and pour the dairy into it. Stir the popcorn, watching it dissolve. Let the popcorn-dairy mixture cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
• Blend. Transfer the popcorn mixture to a blender. Add the salt and start blending on low speed at first, increasing gradually to full speed, to avoid the liquid’s jumping out of the blender cup. Continue blending for 1 to 2 minutes, until the ice cream base is very smooth.
• Chill. Transfer the base to a shallow metal or glass bowl. Working quickly, fill a large bowl two-thirds of the way with very icy ice water. Nest the hot bowl into this ice bath, stirring occasionally until it cools down and add texture agent 2 if using (see notes below).
• Strain. When the ice cream base is cool to the touch or a thermometer reads 50°F or below, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the bits of hull.
• Cure. Transfer the ice cream base to the refrigerator to cure for 4 hours, or preferably overnight. (This step is optional, but the texture will be much improved with it.)
• Churn. Place the base into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream is ready when it thickens into the texture of soft-serve ice cream and holds its shape, typically 20 to 30 minutes.
• Harden. To freeze your ice cream in the American hard-pack style, immediately transfer it to a container with an airtight lid. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystals from forming, cover, and store it in your freezer until it hardens completely, between 4 and 12 hours. Or, feel free to enjoy your ice cream immediately; the texture will be similar to soft-serve.
  

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

TEXTURE AGENTS

1. Best texture Commercial stabilizer: 3g | 1 teaspoon mixed with the sugar before it is added to the ice cream base.
2. Least icy: Guar or xanthan gum 1g | ¼ teaspoon whirled in a blender with the ice cream base after it is chilled in the ice bath.
3. Easiest to use: Tapioca starch 5g | 2 teaspoons mixed with 20g | 2 tablespoons of cold milk, whisked into the ice cream base after it is finished cooking.
4. Most accessible: Cornstarch 10g | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, mixed with 20g | 2 tablespoons of cold milk, whisked into the simmering ice cream base, then cooked for 1 minute.

Please note that I have modified the directions of this recipe ever so slightly to attempt to make the use of the texture agents clearer. 

Nutrition

Calories: 409kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 353mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 1015IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 123mg | Iron: 0.2mg

The post Popcorn Ice Cream appeared first on The Bake School.

The cover of the book Hello, My Name is Ice Cream (find it on Amazon) immediately caught my eye. It wasn't the scoops of ice cream that grabbed my attention, surprise, surprise, it was the "structural" doodles behind the ice cream scoops (ice crystal structures?). Also, the subtitle The Art and Science of the Scoop intrigued me.

Please note that this post is a review of the cookbook Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree with a popcorn ice cream recipe from the book, reproduced with permission from the publisher. I purchased the book on Amazon.

Sections Of Ice Cream Book

The book is divided into three big sections:

1. The Knowledge
2. The Recipes
3. Composed Scoops

I bought this book for "The Knowledge" because I know for a fact that there's a lot of science behind churning ice cream that I am not very familiar with. For example, there's a reason why you churn ice cream as opposed to just freezing ice cream bases straight in a container in the freezer, one shot: it all has to do with the size of the ice crystals (or at least mostly). We want to achieve tiny ice crystals that are indiscernible on the palette.

✅ Pros

Until reading this book, I'd never thought about the emulsion behind every ice cream and how delicate that mix is, prone to separate if not made correctly or appropriately handled. Exploring the pages of this book helped me better understand all the ingredients that go into ice cream, the ingredients we are familiar with, like milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla, and those we are not, like commercial stabilizers, carrageenan, polysorbate 80, etc. Turns out that all those "other ingredients" you might notice on the average commercial ice cream label play a crucial role.

The book also has a fantastic appendix on ratios, specifically functional ratios and working ratios, how to calculate them, and how to apply them so that you can create your own ice creams at home. I'm particularly excited about the appendix because you know how much I love ratios!

❌ Cons

My only issue with this book is the way the recipes are laid out, specifically when it comes to the "texture agents" (the stabilizers) and when to add them. When I first got the book in July, I spent a lot of time reading the book and hanging out with it, and so at that point, I understood when to add the texture agents and what all the little numbers in the recipe directions meant. Of course, three months later, when I finally went to use the book, all was forgotten.

🧪 Putting The Cookbook To The Test

One of the recipes I tested was for popcorn ice cream. When I made the base I forgot to add the texture agent (tapioca starch was my texture agent of choice). Luckily, I hadn't churned the ice cream yet. My ice cream was at the curing stage in the fridge though, so I had to reheat the mixture to add the tapioca starch (my texture agent of choice), then I let it cool and I cured it again, overnight. This worked well, thankfully, but I'd imagine the way the texture agents are mentioned in the recipe may lead to some confusion.

On the other hand, I am pointing this out knowing fully well that it is NOT easy to write clear recipes and given there are four options per recipe, it is even harder to convey the method. Perhaps had I paid more attention and reread the recipe carefully before jumping in, I'd have done it right the first time... Who knows?

Get The Book + Equipment

Wanna buy a copy of the book? Head over to Amazon to get yours! It's a keeper!
I used an old Krups La Glacière ice cream maker to churn this batch of popcorn ice cream, but it is no longer in production. Dana Cree (and many others) recommends this Cuisinart model that you can get on Amazon. If I had the budget, I'd probably invest in this Breville model (available on Amazon), which comes with a built-in compressor so that you can avoid having to chill an ice cream drum for 24 hours. This machine chills itself!

📚 Other Books About Ice Cream

If you want to dive deep into the world of ice cream, here are a few ice cream books I also recommend:

• The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
• Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream & Dessert Book by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
• Salt & Straw by Tyler Malek and JJ Goode
• Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream by Laura O'Neil, Benjamin Van Leeuwen, Pete Van Leeuwen, and Olga Massov
• Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream by Jeni Britton Bauer
• The World Of Ice Cream by Adrienne Borlongan

👩‍🍳 Ice Cream Recipes To Try

I love making ice cream all year long. Here are some of my favourite ice cream recipes for you to try:

The post Hello, My Name is Ice Cream appeared first on The Bake School.

With the success of my lemon custard ice cream (so refreshing), I decided to try to make another ice cream. My next flavour: spiced chai or masala chai ice cream. I love spiced chai. The combination of sweet, warm, sometimes floral spices with milk is so soothing.

Just a reminder that the word "chai" means tea, so saying chai tea is actually redundant. Did you know "chai" is the word for tea in many languages, including Arabic? The word "masala" is to indicate that the tea is spiced and made with a blend of spices, which vary, but often you will find cardamom, cloves, ginger, peppercorns, and/or fennel in most masala chai recipes. To recap:

• Chai means tea
• Masala means a blend of spices
• Chai masala is the spice blend to make spiced tea
• Masala chai is the spiced tea drink made from chai masala

For this spiced chai ice cream, I steeped the equivalent of two tea bags of spiced chai in the sweet milk. That's roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons of tea. I used Smith Tea masala chai loose leaf tea. You can find their tea bags on Amazon. I also decided to add a little extra freshly ground cardamom because I'm a big fan of masala chai with lots of cardamom. If you can't find masala chai loose leaf tea or bags, feel free to experiment with black tea and a mix of spices.

Once the milk was infused, I used it to make a crème anglaise, which is a cooked custard base for many ice creams, thickened with egg yolks.

Infusing the custard base with black tea turned the ice cream to the colour of creamy milk tea, which is exactly what this ice cream tastes like. I have played around with the amount of sugar (between 125 mL and 190 mL or ½ cup to ¾ cup) and also the ratio of cream to milk. In the end, I prefer the ice cream made with more sugar and  Don't go below 125 mL (½ cup) of sugar for this ice cream recipe because there's a risk the ice cream will freeze too hard or form larger ice crystals, which will ruin the texture.

If you aren't a fan of masala chai, you might prefer using a different tea, like Earl Grey, for example. Just replace the loose-leaf tea in this recipe with your favourite tea, preferably one you would serve with milk. Matcha tea powder would be another great option, though for that substitution, you would have to play around with the amount of powder since matcha powder is more potent than loose leaf tea (maybe start with 15 mL or 1 tablespoon for your first batch and see how that goes).

If you want to learn more about making ice cream at home, check out this mega guide to how to make the best ice cream, with tips and tricks, and troubleshooting ideas if you run into problems along the way. And below you'll find the recipe to make this spiced chai ice cream (a.k.a masala chai ice cream).

📖 Recipe

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Masala Chai Ice Cream

Homemade masala chai ice cream is easy to make from a simple spiced black tea-infused custard base with this recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Chill time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 35 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 389kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) divided
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 150 grams granulated sugar divided
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 30 mL spiced chai loose-leaf tea or 2–3 tea bags of spiced chai tea for masala chai
• 20 cardamom pods shelled and ground with a mortar and pestle
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• Before you begin to cook the ice cream base, place 250 mL (1 cup) of the cold whipping cream in a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup (or a big bowl preferably with a pouring spout). Set a strainer over top. Set aside
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until the mixture is a very pale yellow and very light.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk, the chai masala mix, the cardamom, the salt, and the rest of the cream. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached at least 83 ºC (181 ºF).
• Pour the mixture through the strainer, squeezing the custard out of the zest.
• Cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate the spiced chai custard base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take over 15 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream has reached the desired consistency. Turn off the machine, disassemble, and transfer the ice cream to a container. Place in freezer for a few hours to finish chilling.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 389kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 241mg | Sodium: 221mg | Potassium: 227mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 1095IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 161mg | Iron: 1mg

Once you've churned it, you can transfer the ice cream to a brownie pan lined with lots of plastic wrap, so that you can later sandwich it between cake brownies of the same size to make the best homemade ice cream sandwiches. So good!

The post Homemade spiced chai ice cream appeared first on The Bake School.

Once you make a batch of homemade chocolate ice cream, you will never want to go back to store-bought again! This might be my favourite of the ice cream recipes! It's smooth and creamy, not too sweet and with an intense chocolate flavour.

This recipe will have you making a crème anglaise custard base. If you have never made it before, read all about how to make a crème anglaise first!

Ingredients

This chocolate ice cream starts with a custard base that is flavoured with dark chocolate and cocoa powder. Here's what you need to make it:

• Milk and cream, preferably 2 % fat or even 3.25 % fat whole milk and whipping cream with 35 % fat. You can play with the amount of fat in this recipe, but less fat will have an impact on the final texture and flavour. The ice cream may taste a little more watery with less fat and have more ice crystals.
• Egg yolks to make the crème anglaise, which act as an emulsifier and a thickener in this recipe, providing body, as well as colour and flavour.
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar though brown sugar would work fine too. Don't skimp on the sugar or your ice cream may end up too icy and the texture won't be as nice.
• Fine kosher salt, which dissolves easily and provides a little depth of flavour, helping the flavours in the ice cream stand out more.
• Vanilla extract enhances the flavours in the custard base making a more complex-tasting chocolate ice cream.
• Dutch-processed cocoa powder—do not use a natural cocoa powder because the flavour is too mild! I used either Cacao Barry Extra Brute or Cacao Barry Plein Arôme cocoa.
• Chocolate, specifically 70 % dark chocolate that isn't too sweet—I used Ocoa from Cacao Barry, which is not sweet and has a strong cocoa flavour with roasted and bitter notes.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Special Equipment

Instructions

There are four major parts to making this ice cream:

1. Blooming the cocoa powder and melting the chocolate to make the chocolate base
2. Making a crème anglaise
3. Combining the chocolate base with the crème anglaise
4. Chilling, churning, and hardening

Blooming the cocoa powder

Start by heating most of the cream and cocoa powder—this is called "blooming" the cocoa powder

Once the cocoa and cream are hot, you can add the dark chocolate and it will melt.

Making a crème anglaise

Please read about how to make a crème anglaise if this is your first time. Unlike pastry cream, crème anglaise is cooked low and slow for a longer period on the stove at a low heat setting.

To make the crème anglaise, you start by whisking the egg yolks with the sugar, which is a French pastry term called "blanchir" (which means to whiten or lighten").

The egg yolks should become a pale pastel yellow and the sugar should begin to dissolve.

Heat the milk until it's almost boiling, then pour it onto the whisked egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs.

After cooking the custard on the stove on low to thicken it, the crème anglaise is strained to remove any bits of cooked egg that would ruin the texture of your ice cream.

Combining the chocolate base and crème anglaise

The chocolate base of melted chocolate, cream, and cocoa powder doesn't easily combine with the crème anglaise. You have to use a stick blender to get the two components to mix properly.

Use a stick blender (electric hand blender) to combine the chocolate base and the crème anglaise.

Chill the chocolate custard in an ice bath to speed up the process. You should then chill the custard overnight in the fridge.

Chilling the custard and churning the ice cream

In order to churn the ice cream quickly before the freezer drum melts, the ice cream base has to be chilled overnight in the refrigerator. Taking the time to do so will prevent the freezer drum from heating up too quickly when you churn the ice cream. You will have more time to churn the ice cream.

Before chilling overnight in the refrigerator, the chocolate custard will have a lot of bubbles.

After chilling the chocolate custard in the fridge overnight, it will be thick like pudding.

Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker for about 20 minutes or until it has the texture of soft-serve ice cream.

Tip: Don't forget to chill the freezer drum for at least 24 hours before churning your ice cream. I usually put it in the freezer 2 days before I will make ice cream. Otherwise, the freezer drum may not be cold enough: you may not be able to churn your ice cream fully, which could lead to it melting too fast during the process. The ice cream may be dense or icy.

Transfer the homemade ice cream to a storage container to harden it in the freeze. Usually, I freeze homemade ice cream for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours before serving. Otherwise, it melts too fast.

Storage

I highly recommend investing in a freezer container for your ice cream. I have a Tovolo ice cream tub. It has an elongated shape, giving you ample room to drag the ice cream scoop more easily! The base is non-slip, so you have more traction when scooping, and it's double-walled for better storage.

Top Homemade Ice Cream Tips

Homemade ice cream freezes hard. Here's how to make serving homemade ice cream easier:

• Take it out of the freezer 10 minutes before you plan to serve it to help soften it a little.
• Dip your ice cream scoop in hot water to warm up the metal, then dry it off quickly and use the warm scoop to portion out the ice cream more easily.
• Use a disher or an ice cream scoop with a release to be able to scoop and release the scoop cleanly with the press of a button

Chocolate Ice Cream FAQs FAQ

Other Chocolate Recipes

This is an intensely chocolate ice cream, best suited for chocolate lovers. If you want more chocolate baking recipes, try these:

If you tried this recipe for the best chewy chocolate chip cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe

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Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Learn how to make the best dark chocolate ice cream with this easy recipe. You will make a custard base (crème anglaise) and mix it with dark chocolate and cocoa powder before churning it in an ice cream machine.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 537kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) divided
• 18 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 130 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content)
• 5 mL vanilla extract
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 200 grams granulated sugar divided
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• In a small saucepan, combine half the cream with the cocoa powder.
• Bring the mixture up to the boil, whisking constantly, then lower the heat and simmer the cocoa mixture for 1 minute.
• Add the dark chocolate to the pan and let it stand 1 minute, then stir it in to melt it completely.
• Add the rest of the cream and the vanilla, then transfer the chocolate base to a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup or a large bowl with a pouring spout. Place a strainer over top for later. Set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath that can accommodate the measuring cup or bowl with the chocolate base.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar and the salt, until the mixture has lightened.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk and cream. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached 83 °C (181 °F). The goal is to slowly thickened the custard.
• Pour the mixture through the strainer set over the chocolate base, pressing the custard through gently, if needed.
• Use a stick blender to combine the strained custard with the chocolate base at the bottom of the bowl (or measuring cup). The mixture should be thick and homogenous.
• Cover with plastic wrap and place the bowl in the prepared ice bath to cool it down faster. Refrigerate the chocolate ice cream base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take about 15 to 20 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream is the texture of soft serve, turn off the machine, disassemble, and transfer the ice cream to a container. Place in freezer for a few hours to finish chilling before serving.

Notes

• For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 537kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 230mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 381mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 1111IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 3mg

The post Dark chocolate ice cream appeared first on The Bake School.

I love making homemade ice cream, but scooping it kinda sucks. Homemade ice cream is a little denser than commercial ice cream, and it can freeze quite hard. Transforming it into ice cream sandwiches means no scooping required!

I've actually been holding onto this recipe from Food Network Magazine since the summer of 2010. I may be a total slob and incapable of keeping a clean house, but I do have mad organizational skills. I'm so glad I finally got around to making this recipe.

What you need to make them

Ice cream sandwiches have two components to them, two cakey fudgy cake layers and ice cream.

For the fudgy cake layers, you need the standard chocolate cake ingredients, including:

• flour, specifically all-purpose
• leavening agents, specifically both baking powder and baking soda to make sure the cake component isn't overly dense
• salt, preferably Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt—if using table salt, halve the amount
• butter, preferably unsalted but if you want to use salted butter, don't add the salt in the recipe
• cocoa powder, specifically Dutch-processed which has a more pronounced chocolate flavour. Do not substitute natural cocoa powder as it won't provide enough flavour or colour for the cake layers.
• sugar, both granulated and brown sugar to achieve the right texture of cake
• coffee to enhance the bitter notes of the chocolate
• buttermilk, which is often low fat are almost fat free. A higher fat buttermilk around 3 % fat could also work.
• vanilla, either store-bought or homemade vanilla extract work.

And for the ice cream filling, you can either use homemade ice cream, or store-bought.

Ice creams for ice cream sandwiches

I made these with a batch of that cherry bourbon ice cream. The combination of chocolate and the boozy cherries kind of reminds me of a grown-up version of Cherry Garcia. You can use any ice cream you like:

• dark chocolate ice cream
• popcorn ice cream
• spiced chai ice cream
• cookie ice cream
• mint chocolate chip ice cream
• lemon custard ice cream

If you don't have time to make ice cream, consider your favourite store bought flavours that pair nicely with chocolate. All you have to do is soften the ice cream to be able to spread it between the two layers of cake. My favourite ice cream brands include Ben & Jerry's and H¨aagen-Dazs.

Special equipment

The cake layers are baked in two brownie pans to create two equal layers of cake with exactly the same height and dimensions. You can then stack the layers, sandwiching softened ice cream between the two in the same brownie pan to freeze it before cutting into squares or bars.

I used two 9 inch brownie pans for this and they worked perfectly.

To assemble and freeze in the brownie pans, make sure to line the pan completely with plastic wrap so that you can easily freeze and then unmould to cut out the ice cream sandwiches on a cutting boards cleanly, neatly, and evenly. Cutting in the pan is not recommended (and you will damage your pan) so do not skip this step!

This is a very forgiving recipe. I accidentally cracked one of the cake layers in half while flipping them out of the cake pans to cool, but you can't tell. The softened ice cream binds the layers together and once frozen, they hold up well, even if you have cracked one of the layers.

📖 Recipe

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Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Homemade ice cream sandwiches recipe made with chocolate cake layers and homemade cherry ice cream 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 186kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 9x9-inch pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Mini offset

Ingredients

• 94 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 5 mL baking powder
• 1.25 mL baking soda
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 56 grams unsalted butter softened
• 70 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 125 mL hot coffee cooled slightly
• 125 mL buttermilk (1 % fat)
• 1 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 1 L cherry bourbon ice cream or your favourite homemade or store-bought ice cream

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325 °F (165 °C). Grease bottom/sides of two square 9-inch metal baking pans and line bottom with parchment, and lightly grease the parchment. Set aside
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
• Melt the butter in the microwave, then add the cocoa powder and whisk it in to make a thick paste. Add the sugars to the paste, along with the warm coffee, and the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Then whisk in the flour.
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing the tops with an offset spatula, and then bake them for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, except for a couple crumbs.
• Cool slightly then unmold onto a parchment lined cooling rack to cool completely.
• Wrap the layers in plastic wrap and freeze them for about an hour.
• Line on of the square metal baking pans with lots of plastic wrap. Soften the ice cream for about 10–20 minutes (alternately if it’s homemade ice cream do this step directly when it’s done churning!), then fill the lined baking pan with the ice cream, smoothing it into an even layer with a small offset spatula. Fold over the plastic overhangs to cover and seal the ice cream, then freeze it for about an hour.
• When all the components are frozen, unwrap everything, and then flip one of the cake layers so that it is top side down, top with the square ice cream layer, lining up the corners, then top with the second cake layer, top side up. Wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and freeze again.
• Unwrap the giant ice cream sandwich and cut into 16 squares (I used a serrated knife for this) and serve immediately or wrap each quickly in parchment and store in a container in the freezer.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the cocoa powder, you can purchase it on Amazon

Nutrition

Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 92mg | Potassium: 202mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 262IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 1mg

Another great option for desserts made with ice cream is this recipe for ice cream strawberry shortcakes.

The post Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches appeared first on The Bake School.