When thinking about summer, three things come to mind: the beach, pool, and ice cream. Well, to be honest, ice cream is a year-round staple for me, but there are just more opportunities to have a scoop (or two) now. From Ben & Jerry’s to Van Leeuwan, no matter where I’m at, I will always find an ice cream shop.
But as someone who is kind of lactose intolerant, my ice cream intake has somewhat decreased. So, I decided to start making my own. From all the ones I’ve tried at home, the recipe from Just Home Making has become my go-to base. I’ve just switched the dairy parts of it to dairy-free options like the Good & Gather Lactose-Free 1% Lowfat Milk or the Silk Dairy-Free Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative.
Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
This is a standard vanilla recipe, but it’s made with the Kitchenaid mixer. That mixing bowl is about $90 and will say throwing everything in there and just letting the mixture churn is great. But are there also easier and *ahem* cheaper ways to make ice cream? Obviously.
From what I found, there’s the bag method, the blender method, and the mason jar method. I ruled out the bag method though. It sounds like a great science project, but I found that I will be doing more steps when adding toppings especially if I want the base to taste like a specific flavor. (But, if you’re interested in using this method, here’s a recipe from Delish.)
Now, to the recipes! Here are five of my favorite recipes that are always in rotation in my home (including some water-based ones).
Note: all recipes were modified to fit into a mason jar.
5. Very Berry Sorbet
Ingredients:
2 cups of frozen mixed berries
Juice from ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon of granulated sugar
¼ to ½ cup of water
When thinking about this recipe, I wanted to make it as natural as possible. So, there’s close to no sugar, aside from what’s naturally in fruits.
My berries are the Organic Mixed Berry Blend from Trader Joe’s, which has strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I put the berries, lemon juice, and sugar into a blender and blended until my desired consistency, which took around 2-3 minutes. The water you add between intervals, I used around ¼ cup and 1 tablespoon of water to loosen the thickness of the berries.
And voilà! You have your sorbet. But if you want it to be smoother, you can strain the berry mixture and just place the new mixture in your freezer. You’ll still have that sorbet texture!
4. The Dragon and Passion Fruit Bonanza
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whipping cream
½ cup milk
2 cups of frozen dragon fruit and passion fruit chunks
For this recipe, just throw it all in a blender. This will help make sure the fruit chunks are evenly incorporated throughout the whole mixture and you’ll be left with the prettiest purple color.
Now, you can stop here and just transfer this mixture into a mason jar, or other storage container, and place it in the freezer. Or you can be extra like me and add MORE fruit chunks into the mixture. Then place it in the freezer. For this one, you need to be patient and leave it in the freezer overnight, if not longer, to fully set.
3. The Pine-berry Delight
Ingredients:
2 cups of frozen strawberries and pineapple chunks
Juice of ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon of granulated sugar
¼ to ½ cup of water
For this sorbet, I wanted the pineapple to shine. The strawberries were added purely for color.
In a blender add the frozen fruit chunks, lemon juice, and sugar. Blend in intervals of 30 seconds and between each add water. Unlike the Very Berry Sorbet, I used the full ½ cup of water to fully blend the pineapple and strawberries. The whole process took me about four minutes.
What I love about this sorbet is the peachy color, but also it’s quick, simple, and so refreshing.
2. Triple Cookies & Cream Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon caramel pecan simple coffee syrup
1 cup whipping cream
½ cup milk
18 Oreo cookies
This is a chocolate lover’s dream. When I made my first batch, I made the vanilla base from above and then folded crushed-up Oreo cookies into the mixture. But, I felt like there needed to be more flavor. Recently, I’ve been blending eight Oreo cookies into the heavy whipping cream and five cookies into the milk. This blending gives that dark brown color to the base mixture.
I’m in my coffee syrup era, and I’ll be honest, I swap out the vanilla extract for it when I’m baking. The coffee syrup elevates the flavor and just brings everything together. But, if that’s not your vibe, then stick with the vanilla extract!
In a plastic bag, place five Oreos and crush them until they’re in very fine/small chunks. Then, in a mason jar, add the sugar, salt, Oreo-flavored whipping cream, coffee syrup (or vanilla extract), Oreo-flavored milk, and half of the crushed Oreos. Get ready for the arm workout because, for 5 to 10 minutes, you’re shaking that mason jar.
Once you’re done, or tired, open the jar and sprinkle on top/mix in the rest of those chunks. Place the mason jar in the freezer to finish setting. For best results, leave it overnight.
But, between us, it’s just the same to throw everything into a blender. With this method, you’ll get muscles as a bonus.
1. The Piña Coco
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whipping cream
½ cup milk
2 cups of frozen pineapple and coconut chunks
The only way I can explain this is, it’s a Piña Colada in ice cream form. To make sure I got that pineapple and coconut flavor, I blended the fruits into the whipping cream and milk as I did for the Oreo ice cream recipe. After blending, I realized that the mixture was already having the ice cream consistency. So, I added the sugar, salt, and vanilla into the blender and finished mixing those ingredients.
This all took about a minute and 20 seconds. I transferred the mixture into a mason jar and placed it in my freezer to finish setting. For best results, leave it overnight, but if you’re impatient like me, 3 to 5 hours will suffice.