Easy Homemade Ice Cream!

Homemade Fireball Whiskey and Raisin Ice Cream

Summer is here and everyone loves a frozen treat. The best treats, in my mind, are those you can make yourself. I love making ice cream. You can do so much with a basic recipe. This is fun to do with kids or on your own and the results will be very impressive.

Here’s how to make delicious homemade ice cream the easy way! This recipe is a bit of a cheat but tastes way better than anything you buy in the store and costs about as much. Since I learned how to do this, I stopped buying ice cream. Why bother when this is so easy and tastes so much better? Besides, I always like it when I can control the ingredients.

Except for the cream and condensed milk combination, I use eyeball measurements. This means you will have to play around with the ingredients. Find the quantities that suit you the most. Err on the side of caution with alcohol. Too much will prevent freezing and too little will not give enough flavor. 

You can make these recipes without alcohol, but don’t substitute a juice or other liquid or your ice cream will not be creamy. Without alcohol, it will be very hard to serve, so you will have to let it sit outside the freezer for a few minutes before serving.

Here’s the base:

500 ml (half a quart) of 35% cream

1 can (300 ml) of sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand or something similar). You can make your own instead, if you are really a purist. 

Method:

In one bowl whip the cream until thick but not as thick as a whipped topping. Think thick but still a bit sloppy.

In a separate bowl, mix your sweetened condensed milk with whatever flavors you want. This is where you get creative. Feel free to use alcoholic drinks such as Sambuca, Dissarono, Crème de Cacao, Fireball Whiskey, Butterscotch Schnapps, or whatever you like, but be careful not to use too much, because alcohol will prevent freezing. I generally drop in about 1 shot to 1 ½ shots per container. If the ice cream is mixed with cocoa powder, you can use a little more alcohol because the powder tends to make the ice cream harder. 

After you have combined your sweetened condensed milk with the flavoring ingredients, simply whip into the cream for a couple of minutes to ensure the mixture will be firm and blended to your liking. 

You can separate the base mixture and add your flavorings after as well, however, some ingredients, such as cocoa powder or instant coffee are better to blend with the condensed milk first.  You can drizzle peanut butter or caramel into chocolate, or a base flavour. Add salt if you want a salt caramel flavor. Be creative. Play. Have fun! 

Freeze in a covered freezer proof bowl for at least 8 hours. You’ll find this ice cream to be very rich. You won’t feel the need to eat the whole thing at one time. A small serving will do nicely. 😊

Here are some of my favorite combinations:

Sambuca Orange Ice Cream

Fireball Whiskey and Raisin: Use golden raisins. Chop them up and soak them for about 30 minutes in the whisky. Add a tsp. of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg to the sweetened condensed milk mixture. Dump the soaked raisins and whisky in. Blend the whole mixture into the base.  Cover and freeze. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter: Natural peanut butter is best for this because it is more fluid. Use cocoa powder and crème de cacao in the condensed milk mixture. Add salt to the natural peanut butter and swirl in to the chocolate ice cream. Cover and freeze. 

Chocolate Almond: Add amaretto and approx.  ¼ c cocoa powder to the condensed milk. Blend into the base for about 2 minutes. Fold in some toasted almonds. You can use melted chocolate instead of powder. Consider even throwing in a bit of broken Chocolate Almond Lindt bar. Cover and freeze.

Holy Sweet Mother of Jesus! This version of Heavenly Hash ice cream will knock you off your feet.

Holy Sweet Mother of Jesus: This is too good to be called Heavenly Hash. Divide your cream so that half of it is chocolate and half is plain. Use chocolate powder (dark choc powder is preferred, if you can get it). I put about a half shot of Disaronno (amaretto will also do) in the plain side. You can add a chocolate liqueur to the choc side if you have it. Swirl the chocolate in with the plain. Swirl in some miniature marshmallows, broken chocolate almond Lindt bar and toasted almonds. I use eyeball measurements. Do what looks good to you. It’s REALLY good. Cover and freeze.

Sambuca Orange: Set aside 1 tsp of orange rind. In a separate bowl, blend your cream and condensed milk. Divide the mixture in two. Put a shot of orange liqueur into one half and sambuca in the other half. Then swirl together. Black sambuca makes the mixture a bit purplish. Blue Curacao makes it blue. It’s kind of pretty. Sprinkle a little rind on the top for garnish. Cover and freeze. 

Butterscotch Schnapps and Dulce de Leche: Mix the schnapps in with the sweetened condensed milk. Slightly warm up the Dulce de Leche if it is thick and drizzle it through the ice cream mixture. Consider a middle layer and a top layer and then gently swirling it through.

Raspberry Rica: Our friend @Javier 🐝 CR   loves raspberry sorbet. I think he should make his ice cream with raspberry schnapps and raspberries (fresh or frozen). Perhaps he could even break up a dark chocolate bar into tiny bits and swirl it into the creamy mixture. He could even do half chocolate and half raspberry. Oh, Javi, the fun you could have!

I'd really love to hear how these recipes turned out for you and if you have made up any combinations you'd like to share in the comments below.  Happy summer, everyone!