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Summer’s coming: How to make ice cream without an ice cream maker

Thinkstock
Thinkstock

No ice cream maker? No problem.

After a few warm days earlier in the month, I officially declared it ice-cream season, regardless of dipping temperatures in the week or so that followed.

And because I’m a fan of Michael Pollan’s simple food rule, “Eat anything you want, just cook it yourself,” I thought I’d apply it to ice cream.

I don’t have an ice cream maker. Nor do I have the space to store one in my tiny kitchen. Undeterred, I found plenty of encouragement — and maker-less methods — online.

To boost my ice-cream confidence, I first tried what sounded like the world’s easiest recipe: one-ingredient ice cream.

All photos courtesy Nadine Kalinauskas
All photos courtesy Nadine Kalinauskas

I froze chunks of banana in the freezer, then blended them into creamy submission before popping them back in the freezer to harden again. No, there’s no “cream” in this method — does that make it sorbet? — but it’s tasty and refreshing. And healthy. And threatens to kill your food processor. Frozen bananas are hard!

The one-ingredient ice cream, after blending.
The one-ingredient ice cream, after blending.

Recipe alteration: I blended half the batch with some homemade peanut butter. Amazing.

Since my attempt at faux ice cream turned out well — although a little freezer-burnt — I was ready to try making the real deal.

The finished product!
The finished product!

The Options:

The plastic-bag method.

I passed on this because the words “messy” and “chemistry challenge” kept popping up in relation to this version. And I’m not really into messes — and I hated science class.

If you’re into shaking your ice cream into existence, here’s how to do it.

The coffee-can method.

This is essentially the same as the bag method, only with cans. I didn’t have cans on hand, so, again, I passed.

The blender method.

This one’s simple: blend your ice cream base ingredients in a blender for a few minutes, then freeze overnight. (If you try this one, tell us how it went in the comments!)

The ice-bath version.

I went with this one, trusting the genius of David Lebovitz. (I even used his base recipe.)

Making the Base:

The ingredients
The ingredients

I carefully followed Lebovitz’s vanilla ice cream recipe, terrified that I would burn the milk. (It’s a serious culinary fear of mine.) Unfortunately, the recipe only says “heat the milk” — and later, “rewarm the milk” — not giving me any real direction about HOW warm or for how long. Stress.

 
 

Still, everything came together as he promised, with the exception of the custard-thickening. Despite the constant stirring over low heat — and even slightly-warmer-than-low heat — the mixture wanted to stay liquid-y. “I cannot ruin ice cream!” I panicked aloud, stirring as though my sweet tooth depended on it.

Eventually I decided enough was enough and continued with the recipe, even though I wasn’t confident in the “custard” texture. At least it tasted like melted ice cream, right?

The ice bath.
The ice bath.

(It should also be noted that the ice bath pretty much melted as it waited for the custard addition. Timing fail.)

Eventually the base was made and chilling in the fridge.

Making Ice Cream:

According to Lebovitz’s directions, I could use a freezer-safe “deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable” for this step. So I figured I was safe to continue using the aluminum bowl the base was already chilling in.

This may have been a mistake.

The whisking process
The whisking process

Because the bowl wasn’t very large, the mixture was quite deep in it, making freezing difficult. (If I had spread out the mixture in a larger, shallower baking dish, I imagine this step would have taken considerably less time.)

So instead of seeing some freezing after 45 minutes….nothing.

The Lebovitz method involves stirring/whisking the custard in stages as it freezes. The process should take about three hours. Because of my poor bowl selection, mine took over five hours — and still wasn’t very frozen. And then I scooped the mixture into two Pyrex containers (with lids) and went to bed.

Eating Ice Cream:

The next day, I checked on my “ice cream.” Did it work?

Yes.

The final version of Nadine's vanilla ice cream.
The final version of Nadine's vanilla ice cream.

While the “icy” texture wasn’t as creamy as I’d hoped — note to self: place plastic wrap directly on the mixture before freezing next time — I’d rank its decadent vanilla flavour among the top scoops of ice cream I’ve ever eaten.

It would be amazing with pie.

(My husband’s review: “Freakin’ awesome.”)

I’ll be making this recipe again soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Have you ever successfully made ice cream without an ice cream maker? Share your tips in the comments.