Food and lifestyle with a dusting of magic
Can you make ice cream without an ice cream maker? Why not try chocolate swirl no churn ice cream?
Ice cream is usually made using an ice cream maker. This churns the ice cream as it freezes adding air to the mixture. This makes the ice cream lighter and fluffier. Currys PC World challenged me to try their recipe to make ice cream without an ice cream maker. The idea was to see if it was as nice as ice cream made with an ice cream maker. An ice cream maker also helps manage the crystallization of the ice crystals in the mixture. If the water in the mixture froze too quickly the ice cream would be too solid to eat.
We seem to be getting a bit of an Indian Summer, the weather is lovely. Even though it is Autumn I am still not quite ready to make stews and casseroles. I am still wanting to eat lighter meals and salads as well as refreshing desserts like ice cream. You have to make the most of the sun while it is there. The evenings are still quite warm although the mornings have taken on a colder feel. It is still warm enough to enjoy some ice cream.
The recipe for no churn ice cream starts in a similar way to the recipe for meringues. Separate the egg whites and whisk them until peaks are formed. Sugar is then whisked into the mixture until it is glossy. Finally fold the egg yolks, vanilla essence and double cream into the mixture. Pour the mixture into a Tupperware bowl, cover with cling film and leave to freeze. I also added some chocolate sauce which I swirled though the mixture before freezing.
I recently made raspberry ripple ice cream using an ice cream maker so I had something to compare the no churn ice cream with. The basic recipe is similar but no churn ice cream uses both the egg whites and egg yolks. This solves the problem of wondering what to make with left over egg whites. Last time I made meringues which worked well in an Eton mess.
When I took the no churn ice cream out of the freezer was lovely and creamy in appearance. Swirls of chocolate ran delicately though it. Looking at it sideways I could see two different layers, one which was white and one which was yellow in colour. Next time I will stir it more before I freeze it to prevent this.
So how did it taste? The ice cream was lovely, light and airy with a nice vanilla flavour. The swirls of chocolate sauce complemented it perfectly. It was slightly harder than churned ice cream but I suspect that may have been due to the second layer. I would have to make it again to confirm if this was the case.
If you do not have an ice cream maker then the no churn method is easy and works reasonably well. It is also much quicker as you do not have to chill the mixture overnight before putting it into the ice cream maker. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the method worked.
If you want to try some other ice cream recipes why not try tutti fruitti ice cream which is a great blast from the past. I always wonder why you can no longer buy it. For a lovely refreshing treat raspberry ice cream is worth making.
Have you made no churn ice cream? What did you think? Let me know below.
Why not pin the recipe to make later?
Read more:
I was sent the ingredients in order to try out the recipe and see what I thought.
Your ice cream looks delicious, Alison! I have tried making ice cream in a plain containers before, and it was OK, though not brilliant.
I was surprised how well it worked, I didn’t expect it would at all
We are aiming to eat eggs uncooked? Sounds like a health hazard to me.
There is a very small risk that uncooked eggs contain salmonella, but you can always pasteurise them yourself first. If you bring them up to 140 in boiling water for three minutes it will kill bacteria without cooking them