A Cool Treat to Beat the Heat

Summer is winding down, but we’re seeing record heat here in the West. To a large degree, a lot of us are stuck at home, whether due to COVID, or just because it’s too darned hot. I really wanted something cool to beat the heat so I went to my local grocery store. Heck, even that was closed due to a power outage.

Whatever I was gonna do had to be done with what I had at home. Necessity being the mother of invention, I MacGuyver-ed Ice Cream… from pantry items, without an ice cream maker! (Hey, I was desperate.)

Yep. You just need a a couple of ingredients, a ziplock bag, and a food processor to replicate the churning process. 

Let’s get to it!

I noted this in my Chocolate Truffle Spoons blog… I always try to have some Trader Joe’s shelf-stable cream in my pantry. That, along with some shelf-stable milk (disaster shopping), and a couple more ingredients, I had everything I needed.

That’s it! Five ingredients to make homemade ice cream! Here’s how it’s done (full printable recipe below):

Whisk together cream, milk, sugar and extract. Pour mixture into a zipper top bag, and place flat in the freezer.

Chop chocolate chips.

After 3-4 hours, the ice cream mixture will be frozen in a hard sheet. Remove from bag, break into chunks, and place in food processor. Pulse mixture until it’s smooth and creamy. Add chocolate chips, freeze again. Eat.

Print Recipe

Homemade Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Maker!

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Dessert

By Tamara Berg – Serves: 3

Prep Time: 4 hours freezing time – Cooking Time: 5 minutes – Total Time: 4 hours, 5 minutes

There are only 3 basic ingredients in this recipe (plus flavorings), so it's easily adaptable. This version makes 2 to 3 servings, and can be easily doubled to make a larger quantity. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk (whole milk makes the final product richer, but I used low fat)
• 6 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon mint extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips, chopped

Instructions

1

Whisk the cream, milk, sugar and mint extract in a bowl to combine. Pour mixture into a gallon-sized zipper lock bag, and secure. Place bag on a small cookie sheet and place it flat in the freezer. 

2

Chop the chocolate chips. 

3

In 3-4 hours, check the ice cream bag. It needs to be a solid frozen sheet of ice cream. Once completely frozen, remove the bag from the freezer, and break the sheet into smaller chunks, and place in food processor. Working quickly, pulse the ice cream base in the food processor until it's whipped up, smooth and creamy. Add chopped chocolate chips at the end of the mixing process. 

4

Scoop out the ice cream, place into a lidded container, and re-freeze for 1 hour.

5

Enjoy your delicious homemade ice cream! 

Notes

Once you've made the base, it's easy to adjust favors. You could even do a 2x or 3x size batch, and then allow each family member to flavor their own batch! But don't overfill the zipper bag, or the freezing process won't go as smoothly and quickly.