Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my homemade ice cream not creamy enough? ›

If you have ever made ice cream, you already know what goes into it, ingredients such as milk, cream, and sugar. But there is one main ingredient that you may not have thought about, probably because you can't see it—air.

To make ice cream in a jar, simply add ½ cup chilled heavy cream. ¼ condensed milk tin (chilled), and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to a cold-resistant glass Mason jar. Screw the lid on tightly and shake it for 5 minutes or until the mixture doubles in size. Add mix-ins, put the lid back on, and freeze for about 3 hours.

Adding thickening agents, such as egg yolks, cornstarch, gelatin, tapioca starch, or even Junket tablets, enhances the texture and elevates the overall ice cream experience. Remember, making homemade ice cream is as much an art as it is a science.

Ice cream containing lots of tiny ice crystals feels smoother and creamier than ice cream that is equally thick but with fewer, larger crystals. Constant churning helps keep the crystals moving as they chill, so they have less time to attach to one another and form clusters that would interrupt a creamy mouth-feel.

Fat. A great ice cream owes its smooth, creamy mouthfeel to fat, which helps keep ice crystals small. As Bauer explains, fat is also extraordinarily effective at carrying flavors, so when ice cream melts in your mouth, you are hit with the taste of your ingredients.

Just the right amount of sugar—or a combination of different types of sugars—keeps the ice cream scoop-able. Fat is responsible for helping to create the rich, creamy, and smooth texture that we love. Some artisan ice cream makers use very high percentages of fat.

Our answer. Nigella's recipe for Strawberry Ice Cream (from NIGELLA SUMMER) uses a rich custard base that is made with milk, cream and egg yolks. The custard uses 10 egg yolks and unfortunately we would not suggest swapping these for 5 whole eggs as the custard will be too thin.

Sugar, corn syrup or honey, as well as gelatin and commercial stabilizers, can all keep your ice cream at a softer consistency. Ice cream also stays softer when you store it in a shallow container, rather than a deep tub, and cover the surface of the ice cream with plastic wrap to keep ice crystals from forming.

The different methods of preparation can also yield different results in the texture of your ice cream. Store-bought ice cream, for example, is often airier than homemade ice cream due to the way it is prepared. Your homemade ice cream, on the other hand, may be creamier and smoother if whipped and blended by hand.

What sugar is best for ice cream? ›

Most home ice cream recipes call for simple table sugar, which is chemically known as sucrose. But in pro kitchens you have more options. Liquid sugars like invert sugar, corn syrup, honey, and glucose syrup all add body, creaminess, and stability to ice cream, and a little goes a long way.

Eggs leverage the fat already present in the ice cream base (the butterfat in cream and milk) and make it work even further for a creamier texture. But wait, there's more! Egg yolks also improve the stability of an ice cream, reducing its tendency to melt before you can get it from freezer to cone to mouth.

Eggs are used in ice cream to add a rich flavor and color, in- hibit ice crystallization, and also to help stabilize or emulsify the fat and liquid so the resulting product is smooth and creamy. Commercial manufacturers use pasteurized eggs, stabilizers, and other ingredients to produce a safe and acceptable product.

As the ice cream mixture is cooled down, some of the water freezes and forms ice crystals. The concentration of sugar increases in the rest of the water, lowering the freezing point of the sugar-water solution – just like the salt in the example above. As a result, the ice cream stays soft.

Like everyone else has already pointed out, it could be multiple things: Not enough fat, i.e. if you use milk in your recipe, you used too much milk and not enough cream. The more milk you use the more icy texture you get. Especially if you use skim milk.

If you are churning your ice cream and it is not thickening, make sure that the canister is cold. Try adding some more ice and rock salt to it. Next time, put the canister into the freezer the day before you start making ice cream. This will ensure that it is cold enough.

For best results, freeze until it is firm, at least 2 hours. The longer you freeze, the more time the flavors will have to ripen. If you have an issue with ice cream hardening, try adding up to 3 tablespoons of alcohol during the last few minutes of churning. This works since alcohol doesn't freeze.