Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my homemade ice cream not creamy enough? ›

So you can up the fat in your ice cream by substituting cream for milk or half-and-half in recipes. Even more effective, is that you can also add more egg yolks if making a custard-based ice cream, which will increase the creaminess due to their emulsifying properties.

More fat means a smoother texture. Cook the base - Heating the ice cream base deactivates enzymes that can make ice cream icy. Bring the base to 170-180°F. Chill thoroughly - Let the base chill in the fridge 4-12 hours before churning.

The cream cheese helps create an ice cream with a denser, smoother texture. As explained by TASTE, cream cheese acts as a stabilizer in ice cream, preventing water from seeping out of the milk and cream as well as preventing the formation of ice crystals that detract from ice cream's creaminess.

Adding thickening agents, such as egg yolks, cornstarch, gelatin, tapioca starch, or even Junket tablets, enhances the texture and elevates the overall ice cream experience. Remember, making homemade ice cream is as much an art as it is a science.

Eggs add rich flavor and color, prevent ice crystallization and help create smooth and creamy ice cream. But adding raw or undercooked eggs can cause a Salmonella infection and it's usually the ingredient responsible for a foodborne illness outbreak associated with homemade ice cream.

Add extra egg yolks for a richer, thicker texture.

You can use up to 8 eggs for 1 quart (688 grams) of ice cream. This may seem like a lot, but it really makes a difference. Egg yolks not only help make the ice cream thicker, but they also help reduce the amount of ice crystals that often form during freezing.

Sugar, corn syrup or honey, as well as gelatin and commercial stabilizers, can all keep your ice cream at a softer consistency. Ice cream also stays softer when you store it in a shallow container, rather than a deep tub, and cover the surface of the ice cream with plastic wrap to keep ice crystals from forming.

The different methods of preparation can also yield different results in the texture of your ice cream. Store-bought ice cream, for example, is often airier than homemade ice cream due to the way it is prepared. Your homemade ice cream, on the other hand, may be creamier and smoother if whipped and blended by hand.

If you have ever made ice cream, you already know what goes into it, ingredients such as milk, cream, and sugar. But there is one main ingredient that you may not have thought about, probably because you can't see it—air.

Sweet castoreum has been used in vanilla flavourings for 200 years – but it has a horrifying source. The substance mostly comes from a beaver's castor sacs, which are located between the pelvis and the base of the tail, The Sun reports.

What is the best sugar for homemade ice cream? ›

Most home ice cream recipes call for simple table sugar, which is chemically known as sucrose. But in pro kitchens you have more options. Liquid sugars like invert sugar, corn syrup, honey, and glucose syrup all add body, creaminess, and stability to ice cream, and a little goes a long way.

Homemade ice cream usually contains much less air than the stuff you buy in the store. Air keeps ice cream soft. So the less there is, the harder your ice cream. It can also be caused by low fat or sugar content.

Constant churning helps keep the crystals moving as they chill, so they have less time to attach to one another. Heated Protein in eggs plays a major role. Heat causes proteins to coagulate into a thick gel which traps water. Heating an ice cream mix containing egg yolks to 70C improves body and texture.

Adding thickening agents, such as egg yolks, cornstarch, gelatin, tapioca starch, or even Junket tablets, enhances the texture and elevates the overall ice cream experience. Remember, making homemade ice cream is as much an art as it is a science.

Overrun is the amount of air that is whipped into the ice cream mixture during freezing. You want your ice cream to have a high viscosity and a moderate overrun, because this makes it creamy and light. To increase viscosity, you can add ingredients that act as stabilizers, such as eggs, cornstarch, or gums.