Ice Cream Freezer

Making Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Freezer

If you'd like to make your own homemade ice cream, but don't have an ice cream freezer and don't want to lay out the expense to purchase one, no need to despair; it is possible to make ice cream, your own homemade ice cream, without an ice cream freezer. For a very simple, basic vanilla ice cream, you'll need one cup of light cream (1/2 pint), one small can of sweetened condensed milk (about 6 ounces), 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and, if you can find them, ground vanilla beans. Mix the ingredients together well and pour them into your glass baking dish. Put it in the freezer (it doesn't have to be an ice cream freezer) and allow it to sit, stirring it with the fork every twenty-five to thirty minutes until it reaches an ice cream consistency. This is your basic vanilla ice cream, made without the aid of an ice cream freezer, and wonderfully quick and easy. 

There are literally hundreds of variations on the vanilla ice cream recipe. For chocolate ice cream, add two teaspoons of cocoa powder to the mix above, in addition to the vanilla, then prepare as directed. Blend a cup of fresh strawberries in a food processor and add them to the vanilla ice cream for strawberry ice cream, or add three bananas, again, pureed in a food processor, for banana ice cream. Or, add half a cup of strawberries and two bananas for strawberry-banana. Making ice cream is delightful, delicious, and easy--and you don't need an ice cream freezer to do it!