Making ice cream without an ice cream maker
Making your own ice cream is easy, fun and, above all, much tastier than store-bought. Many recipes require an ice cream maker, but let us tell you something: you can also do it without one. There is a way to achieve the same effect without a machine. It takes a little more effort, but the result is worth it. Here’s how to make your own vanilla ice cream.
We’ll start by making custard. For 1 litre of ice cream, add 720 ml heavy cream and 250 ml condensed milk to a heavy-bottomed pan (important). Add the seeds from one vanilla pod and heat slowly. In the meantime, mix 265 g sugar with 8 egg yolks until you have a stiff batter. Add this to the cream mixture and heat to approximately 80ºC. Do not let the mixture boil under any circumstances! Keep stirring constantly so the bottom does not get too hot. How do you know when your custard is ready? Dip your spatula into it and run your finger through it to make a line. Does your custard not immediately drip off the spatula, but cling to it for a moment? Then it’s ready.
Step two: freeze it
Okay, step two: freezing. During this process, it is extremely important that the ice cream crystallises as little as possible. Perfect ice cream is creamy and smooth, after all. Keep the following rule in mind: the larger the crystals, the more noticeable they are. So: the smaller the crystals, the creamier your ice cream.
An ice cream maker ensures that the crystals formed during freezing are constantly broken up. This means they do not have room to grow large, creating the perfect texture. It is possible to achieve this effect without an ice cream maker. It just takes a little more effort. Put your container of ice cream in the freezer and stir every fifteen minutes for two hours. This keeps the crystals small. Then leave your ice cream to firm up for another hour or two. Store your homemade ice cream in a tall container and cover with cling film.
