Jill’s Legendary Ice Cream recipe

perfect fresh South Carolina peach

This recipe is nothing like the original recipe that I tried to use for ice cream back when I first started making ice cream in an old school ice cream maker with rock salt over 20 years ago.  It took me a few years and countless batches to perfect.  Most ice cream recipes call for half of the dairy to be half & half and half heavy cream. Since I’m a nerdy dietitian I decided I would try to make a healthier version of ice cream that was still delicious.  (Note – I said ‘healthier’ not ‘healthy,’ there is still a lot of sugar in it.  If you plan on adding things like fruit, cookies or candy bits in it after churning it, you can decrease the sugar a little bit, but otherwise it does not taste as great without this amount of sugar.)

I make a custard ice cream.  It has a lot less fat than most ice cream recipes since half of the dairy is 2% milk and still churns thick if you cook it enough (if it’s too runny, try cooking it longer next time – also make sure that the container is as cold as it can be that it is being churned in – more rock salt and ice if you’re using that kind or if it’s one that has coolant in it like I have now – turn down the freezer temperature or leave it in longer if it wasn’t in at least 48 hours).  I added the eggs to thicken it so you don’t have to add as much fat (make sure you stir in eggs and incorporate fully before turning up the temperature too much or they will cook and not blend in).  This base can be used to make any kind of ice cream.  I generally add about 3 cut up (a little too) ripe bananas for banana, a pound of quartered strawberries for strawberry or 3-4 pureed peaches for peach ice cream (I puree them with the peel for color and the notion of fiber), etc.  If I am just making vanilla, I add a teaspoon or two of vanilla when beginning to churn it.

Jill’s [Legen-dairy] Ice Cream

Ingredients

-2 cups half and half
-2 cups heavy cream
-4 cups 2% milk
-1 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tsp salt
-1 tablespoons vanilla

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into a pot and turn on low.  Stir regularly (at least every 5-10 min) and slowly turn up the heat as you go until the entire mixture reaches at least 165 degrees (due to eggs).
2. Turn off and let cool, pour into a container and place into fridge.
3. The next day you can pour it into a ice cream maker, turn it on for about 30 minutes or until the ice cream is stiff and enjoy.

 

Additional tips:

For ice cream with cookies or candy added – add crumbled cookies or candy bits at the end of churning so they don’t get blended and you can still taste them

For fruit flavored ice cream, add fruit in the beginning because you want it to be fully incorporated throughout.

I use a whisk to stir which helps to incorporate the eggs into the mixture, especially in the beginning.

If you are a big ice cream fan like myself I double the recipe and keep the base in mason jars in the fridge in case I get a hankering for ice cream or find a delicious fruit stand with fresh peaches in the summer… 🙂

Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy ice cream making friends!

fresh strawberry

homemade ice cream sandwich

churning

saved for later

homemade brownie waffle with ice cream

stolen Halloween candy…