Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

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You don't know how good ice cream can be until you make your own Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. It is glorious in its simplicity with a thick, creamy texture that can't be beat.

How do you judge when something is worth the effort? For me, it's a combination of how good the end result is combined with how much I enjoy the process. Even if I like baking bread, there are some recipes that will just never stack up to what you could get from a professional bakery where they've perfected the art. I'm just not that good. So I buy bread from someone who knows what they're doing.

But when the outcome far exceeds anything you could buy in a store, I'll go to great lengths to create something at home. But the trick is to do it when I have the time to joyfully put in the effort. Otherwise, the resentment taints the results. So while I do definitely still buy ice cream from the grocery store, making my own ice cream is always worth the effort because it's just so freakin' good.

What makes Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream so awesome?

What sets homemade vanilla ice cream apart? It's the purity and quality of ingredients. Even the most expensive storebought brands are made with stabilizers and fillers. They may all be perfectly natural and there's nothing wrong with them, but when it's just milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, it's heavenly. Homemade ice cream tends to have a higher fat content than storebought as well, which makes it so much richer.

This base vanilla ice cream can be used to make so many different ice cream flavors. Mix in fruit, chocolate, candy, caramel, whatever you want. But I encourage you to try it unadulterated at least once. Use really good vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. If you want to be extra fancy, you can even scrape an actual vanilla bean into your ice cream paste. That's the really premium stuff right there. I assure you, it's absolutely heavenly.

3 scoops of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream in a black bowl, close up

Magical Properties of Cream

Cream and milk carry strong nourishing vibes. Use them in spells that require mothering energy. Milk often shows up in beauty bath spells. It can also be used to call in prosperity and fertility. With all this feminine, generative energy, it's is tied to the element of water. It gives life, so it obviously carries big energy.

For more on the magical properties of the ingredients in this recipe, check the Kitchen Magick page.

Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make this ice cream. The full details are in the recipe card below.

Cream - double or heavy cream
Milk - be sure to use whole milk to avoid icy ice cream
Eggs
Sugar
Vanilla - good extract or vanilla bean paste

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream in a black bowl with full glass container in background

Tips for making Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Making homemade ice cream does require a bit of patience, but it's totally worth it. The first thing for me is to remember to put the churning bowl in the freezer the day before so it's frozen solid by the time I'm ready to use it. Mine attached to my stand mixer, but be sure to chec the instructions on your model.

The make the ice cream base, you'll start by heating your cream and milk in a medium saucepan until it's steamy. While that's heating up, you can beat your eggs and sugar together into a thick, creamy mixture. When you want to slowly add the hot cream to the sugary eggs. This is called tempering. You drizzle in a few tablespoons at a time, whisking constantly, to slowly raise the temperature of the eggs without cooking them. Once you've worked in about half the cream, it's safe to transfer your egg mixture to the sauce pan.

Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature of your ice cream base. You want to heat it slowly over medium low heat, stirring regularly, until it starts to thicken and reaches 170 F/75C. Then pour this mixture back into your mixing bowl that the eggs were in (to save you washing more dishes) and let it cool for about 30 minutes before stirring in the vanilla.

Chilling & Churning

Then it's just a matter of chilling and churning. Cover your ice cream base with plastic wrap, pressing it right down onto the surface so it doesn't form a skin. Then leave it on the counter for another 30 minutes or so to cool even more. You don't want it to be hot when it goes into the fridge. Once it's cool enough, pop it in the fridge to chill. I usually leave this overnight, but you want to give it a least a couple of hours to get creamier ice cream.

Then just churn your ice cream in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. I leave mine to churn for 25 minutes. The hardest part is transfering it from the machine to the container to store it in the freezer. It's a messy affair, but you get to lick ice cream off your hands, so that's pretty awesome.

Let it freeze for at least 4 hours, but 8 is even better. Then eat your ice cream in your favorite way, but you won't need any toppings to make this awesome.

How to do you get your ice cream extra smooth?

After you've heated your ice cream mixture and you're transferring back to the bowl to cool, be sure to pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. This will catch any bit of egg that have coagulated or lumps of fat from the cream, leaving only the creamiest, dreamiest ice cream base behind.

3 scoops of Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream in a black bowl with sprinkles on the side from above

You know life is good if you have Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream in your freezer. So what are you waiting for? Get churning.

Looking for more awesome ice cream recipes? Try this Moose Tracks Ice Cream or some Milky Way Ice Cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream

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You don't know how good ice cream can be until you make your own Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. It is glorious in its simplicity with a thick, creamy texture that can't be beat.

Author: Renee Rendall
Prep Time: 15
Cook Time: 20
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups double cream or heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions

Add your cream and milk to a medium sauce pan over low heat and heat this up until you just start to see hints of bubbles around the edge, stirring occasionally.
While your dairy is heating up, whisk your eggs in a mixing bowl for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly whisk in the sugar until it's thick and creamy.
Once your cream is hot, remove it from the heat. Temper your egg mixture by slowly drizzling in some of your hot milk into the eggs while whisking the whole time. Drizzle in about a quarter cup at a time until you've mixed in at least half of your dairy. This will raise the heat on your eggs slowly so they don't start to scramble.
Now you can safely add your egg mixture back into the pan, then place the whole thing over medium low heat. Attach your candy thermometer to the side of your pan, and heat this mixture, stirring frequently, until it reaches 170F (75C). Remove from heat.
To make sure we don't have any coagulated egg or weird chunks of fat from the cream ruining our perfectly smooth ice cream, pour your ice cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a mixing bowl. Allow this to cool on the counter for about 30 minutes, then stir in your vanilla extract.
Cover this mixture with plastic wrap. Press it right down onto the surface of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming. Put this in the fridge for at least an hour to chill. Over night is fine.
Add this mixture to your ice cream maker and follow your manufacturer's instructions. Store your ice cream in an air tight container while it freezes for at least four hours.