Making Ice Cream without the Machine

I may be the only human being alive that doesn't own their own ice cream maker. I don't know why I haven't broken down and bought one yet. Probably because if I did I would make ice cream everyday and gain a million pounds this summer.

And I know there are ways to make ice cream without the machine. I made it with two ziplock bags in my high school physics class (I had the coolest teacher EVER!) but what if you want to make more than a single serving? Well David Lebovitz has your answer. He made this:


using a custard based recipe and a bowl in the freezer (plastic or stainless steel)
You make the ice cream mixture, then chill it over ice. Poor it into the bowl and stick it in the freezer. You take it out very 40 minutes and stir it like crazy. (to break up the ice crystals, that is what all the churning is for). A hand mixer works good for this. It should take 2-3 hours and you will have ice cream.

Because you are not constantly breaking up the ice crystals as they form, it won't be as smooth as regular ice cream, but it will still be yummy.

You can use his vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry recipes. Or you can check out his book, Perfect Scoop YUM!

Vanilla Ice Cream (about 1 quart)

What you need:

1 cup milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean
5 egg yolks
2 cup heavy cream
A few drops of vanilla extract

What you do:

Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk.

Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan. (This is called tempering the eggs. You do it so that the eggs are warmed slowly before they are introduced to a hot mixture and it is done to keep the eggs from curdling. Thank you Alton Brown)

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping. Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze (in your machine or using the no machine method!)