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You are going to love the creamy texture and the adaptability of making your own ice cream. This method is so easy and it beats having a large appliance in your house that only will get everything wet and make your hand-churned ice cream taste like salt.

Making Cream-Based Ice Cream

Mix your base. It's easy to make a wide variety of ice cream flavors by starting with a good vanilla ice cream base. Cream-based ice cream is a bit icier and lighter than custard-based ice cream. This recipe will make one quart of ice cream, so double it if you want more.

Mix up the following ingredients in a saucepan:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional: Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder for chocolate ice cream

Use a Freezer Bag

Pour the custard base into a quart-size bag. Make sure it's a sturdy bag with a good seal.

Fill a larger bag with ice and salt. Take roughly two quarts of ice, crushed if possible and place it into a gallon-sized bag with rock salt (also known as coarse salt). Ideally, the gallon bag will be roughly half full with the ice and salt mixture.

Place the sealed quart-sized bag into the gallon-sized bag. Make sure the bags stay sealed. Do not allow the contents to mix at any time. If the bags don't seal sufficiently, seal the top of both bags to ensure they don't open during shaking.

If you want, you can use two cans instead of two freezer bags to try this method. Get coffee cans of different sizes and fill the smaller one with the ice cream base. Fill the larger can with ice and salt and set the smaller can inside. Make sure both cans have tight-fitting lids.

Shake it up. Gently agitate, massage and shake the bags for about fifteen to twenty minutes. In this amount of time the contents of the quart bag should start to turn into solid ice cream. It is important that you are mixing the contents of the inner bag, but you don’t want to be so aggressive that you burst the inner bag or cut it on the ice. Double-bagging should prevent this.

If your hands get uncomfortably cold, use a towel or an old T-shirt to hold the bags as you massage them; the bags will be quite cold and might become slippery with accumulated condensation.

Consider using gloves or massaging while holding onto the top seal if a towel or similar cloth is not available.

Remove the finished ice cream from the sandwich bag and serve.

~*~ Helpful Hints ~*~

If you prefer a lower calorie ice cream that is not as rich, use artificial sweetener instead of sugar. You can also experiment with other types of milk.

If you can, use larger salt crystals (e.g. rock salt). Larger salt crystals take more time to dissolve in the water around the ice, which allows for even cooling of the ice cream.

For large groups, mix several quarts of ice cream mix and divide it into bags, rather than having each individual child mix their own (that gets messy).

Make sure the ice and salt aren't together; it can burn your hand!

Make sure you have gloves or protective gear on while whisking or throwing the mixture.

Flavor combinations are almost limitless. Chocolate syrup is a basic option. Don’t be afraid to add your favorite fruits or nuts! Various flavor extracts that are available in your grocery store's baking section can lead to more exotic variations. Try combining mint extract with chocolate, or adding small chocolate chips.

If you use blueberries, crush them first. Whole blueberries will become little rocks rather than mixing nicely with the ice cream.

When you use the mixer that has the removable canister, put the canister in the freezer overnight. Then put it straight into the mixer, and the mix into the canister while it is still very cold. This cuts down on ice crystals, and produces a smoother ice cream.

Once you get the basic method down, you can go crazy experimenting with your favorite flavors and spices. The following video clearly outlines the process, and provides a great visual as well.

Doesn't that look easy? The ice cream at the end made me mouth drool! I just wish I could stick my spoon right in there! I really can't wait to experiment and debut my homemade ice cream at my next summer dinner gathering.

Are you going to give this a try for summer? Let us know how it works out!

For Additional Information On How To Make Homemade Ice Cream Please Visit: Wiki How