This recipe for ice cream actually started out in New Zealand this past winter. One very hot afternoon (February in New Zealand, remember, is actually summer) we all got back from working to find ourselves longing for ice cream (yes, we worked on the New Zealand trip. And made up a new hashtag: #lifeofacheapskate).
I’d found a recipe for ice cream a few days earlier that did not require a machine and decided that this was a perfect opportunity to try it. After making my brother-in-law whip some egg whites until they were foamy, I added in some fresh cream from the farm we were working at and all the other ingredients (for once following the recipe). The ice cream, even without churning, was cool and perfect and pretty much just what we needed.
I kept the recipe for ice cream–or at least the little scrap of paper I’d written it on—all through the remainder of the trip. It was still in my purse when I boarded the plane home. But my flight was no direct flight, and seven airports and #lifeofacheapskate later, that recipe had disappeared without a trace. Someone, somewhere, must have found that recipe. Perhaps they made ice cream. I hope they enjoyed it.
It seems that wherever I go I collect recipes, because I had quite a few of them in my purse on the way home. I also lost a certain chocolate zucchini cake recipe on that flight. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the cake recipe as well as I remembered the ice cream recipe. Which is a bummer, because that was one darn good zucchini cake. We ate it while jammed in the back of a very stuffed little car named Frau Sorg (don’t ask). Somehow that cake sort of made up for the large and disgusting quantity of tuna we ate (also don’t ask). Until the cake ran out, that is. Then my sister and I fell off the tuna bandwagon and ended up eating a whole lot of gluten the day before we flew home (really don’t ask).
But, ice cream. Ice cream is certainly the subject at hand. And I remembered that lost recipe for ice cream just well enough to piece it together, then tweak it and change it to be refined sugar free and absolutely incredible. I did end up making it in an ice cream machine, because it turns out best and most creamy that way.
This ice cream is good, folks. Trust me on that. It’s wonderfully rich and creamy and perfectly smooth, without any of those hard little crystallized frozen chunks in it.
This recipe is for basic chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Though I certainly wouldn’t object if you decided to add, perhaps, some berries. Or some mint and chocolate chips. Or maybe some smooth caramel. Yep, definitely caramel.
Let’s make ice cream.
And PS, if anyone finds a little scrap of paper with a certain chocolate zucchini cake recipe scribbled onto it in messy handwriting with lots of curlicues, please send it to me. I’ve been looking for it.
- 2 farm fresh eggs that you don’t mind eating raw (non raw egg recipe is in the works but so far I’ve found raw eggs to make the smoothest ice cream)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 oz dark chocolate or chocolate chips (optional—if you’re making chocolate ice cream). For completely refined sugar free ice cream, use 100% chocolate and add an extra tablespoon of honey.
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks and put into two bowls.
- For the whites: Beat, using your electric mixer, until foamy, shiny, and form soft peaks.
- For the whites: Beat until slightly lighter in color and thicker, 1-2 minutes.
- In a saucepan, combine the honey, water, and chocolate (optional). Allow to melt on low until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside and cool.
- In another bowl: beat the whipping cream and vanilla extract until smooth and thick but not quite whipped cream consistency.
- Add the chocolate mix, egg yolks, and egg whites to the whipped cream and gently fold everything together. It’s okay if everything deflates a bit.
- Pour the ice cream into the ice cream machine and allow the machine to churn and cool the ice cream (follow the instructions in your machine’s instruction manual).
- When the ice cream is done, eat immediately if you can’t wait. Otherwise, freeze for about half an hour for thicker ice cream.
- To store, keep in the freezer in an airtight plastic container. Eat within a week to prevent freezerburn.
Did you enjoy this gluten free recipe for ice cream? If so, try it in ice cream cake!
Amen for simple chocolate ice cream! Love that this version is refined sugar-free!
Omggg that looks so melty and delicious!!!! Plus, gluten free just makes it 100% better 😀