Homemade Ice Cream

Ever since I got my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment for Christmas, I’ve been experimenting and trying to find the perfect homemade ice cream recipe. I finally have a tried and true favorite! Sure, I could have just used one of the recipes in the manual that came with the attachment, but those were all custard-based and I didn’t want to deal with tempering eggs.

The first recipe I started with was one that I remembered from elementary school. We used to shake milk, sugar, and vanilla in ziplock bags. Back then, it was the greatest thing ever. Now, not so much. Once frozen, it had this icy texture, not like ice cream at all.

On my next attempt, I tired combining milk with half and half. The result was somewhat better, but still not that smooth and creamy result that I was after.

Finally, I decided to just go with the heavy cream. I mean it is called ice cream after all, isn’t it?! I combined equal parts of half and half with heavy cream plus sugar and vanilla to create the most amazing tasting frozen treat that I’ve ever had. Well, maybe not the best (there are things like Ben & Jerry’s out there..), but this vanilla is definitely a winner.

I saw quite a few homemade ice cream recipes on Pinterest that required heating the liquid to help dissolve the sugar. The down side to that was that you then had to cool the milk before pouring it into the ice cream machine. To skip having to wait, I simply pulsed the sugar and half and half in the blender.

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Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

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A rich, creamy, and easy to make homemade ice cream recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 1/2 cup Half and Half
• 1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla

Instructions

1. In a blender, blend the sugar and half and half until completely combined.
2. Add remaining ingredients to the blend and pulse for just a second to combine.
3. Follow your ice cream maker's directions to freeze your mixture. (In the KitchenAid maker, turn the machine on to 2, then pour mixture in for approximately 30 minutes.) You should have ice cream that's the consistency of soft serve.
4. When the ice cream is ready, pour into an airtight container and freeze over night.

Notes

If wanting to add mix-isn such as cookies or candy, fold them in before freezing the ice cream overnight.

And now that the weekend is here, I’m off to mix a batch.