Ice cream is, without exception, the best dessert there is. It’s rich, creamy, cold, and comes in as many flavors as you can imagine, from your standard chocolate and vanilla to experimental offerings like Ghost pepper or corn on the cob. Some days it is enough to open a pint from the nearest grocery store, but it’s so satisfying that you can make yourself a beer that the store-bought just can’t match.
Most ice cream recipes require an ice cream maker. If you don’t have one – and let’s face it, this is a specialty device that just takes up extra space in your kitchen and costs money at the same time – then no-doffing ice cream recipes are a great option if you get the occasional craving to make your own do.
Over the years I’ve found a few recipes that are quick, easy, and offer a taste that I can’t find in the store. Both of my standards are based on citrus. As it turns out, that is Acid in the citrus fruit thickens the creamwhich eliminates the need for beating and stirring. The sugar balances the acidity and at the same time prevents the ice from freezing too hard.
Lemon (or lime) ice cream without peeling
This recipe for Lemon ice cream without churn comes from a novelist, peach farmer and food writer Dori Sanders, and fulfills all of my recipe requirements: it’s quick, easy, and makes ice cream far superior to anything I can buy. In this case, the result is an intensely tart, lemony taste that I have not yet found in the versions I bought. I did it with limes too, which works just as well.
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To make the ice cream, whisk together just one cup of sugar, the juice and the zest of two lemons or limes and a pinch of salt. Once this becomes a thick paste, stir in 1 cup of whipped cream and 1 cup of whole milk. Whisk everything together, pour the mixture into a metal pan, cover with aluminum foil and place in the freezer.
According to the recipe, you have to stir the mixture after about two to three hours of freezing and then let it freeze a little more. Personally, I’ve found that if you pour the mixture so it’s only about an inch thick, you can skip the stir step. Sometimes it helps to be lazy.
One note: I’ve made this recipe a hundred times and I’ve never, not once, made the candied sesame seeds that Sanders suggests to put on the ice. If you do, please contact me.
Lemonade soft ice cream
This recipe for Lemonade soft ice creamcraving for lemonade concentrate, powdered sugar and cream feels like a throwback to my childhood when I just couldn’t choose between the pink lemonade in a can or soft ice cream. This recipe combines both for a frozen treat that is soft and flavorful.
The recipe calls for one. Cup of heavy cream, six ounces of thawed frozen lemonade concentrate, and ΒΌ cup of powdered sugar. Wherever I am, all I can find is frozen lemonade concentrate in 12-ounce cans, so I’ll just double the recipe. To do this, whip the cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Then stir in the lemonade concentrate and powdered sugar, then place the mixture in a freezer-safe container, cover it, and freeze until it sets.
Every time I do this, my toddler inhales it and then demands more. He probably won’t have the choice between pink lemonade or soft ice cream after all. Instead, he gets the best out of both.
Sundays with Dr. Maya
For additional ideas, I suggest checking out the Instagram Live Show. Ice Cream Sundays with Dr. Maya, hosted by Dr. Maya Warrenwho is an ice cream scientist with a Ph.D. in food science. (Yes, this is a real career! If only I had known it was possible at a young age!)
Dr. Maya started her show last year while in quarantine. Each week on the show, which airs on Sundays at 12 p.m. PT, she demonstrates a new recipe for no-drain ice cream. Their no-churn recipes include flavors like Bonfire s’mores, Lucky charm, Bourbon Vanilla Sea Salt Caramel, Strawberry Cheese Cake, and Advocaat Ice cream.
With decisions like this, you may never run out of new ice cream ideas.
