As a follow-up to a blog from earlier this week regarding toxic chemicals like propylene glycol (antifreeze) in commercial ice cream, this week’s videoblog shows you how to make delicious, safe, healthy ice cream at home with wholesome, nutrient dense ingredients.
There is simply no substitute for making ice cream yourself. I’ve often advised people over the years that the best use of your time in the kitchen is making things you can’t buy. Wholesome, healthy ice cream is one of these “things”. Even organic ice cream is loaded with refined “organic” sugar. The homemade version contains Grade B maple syrup, a much healthier and more mineral rich choice.
Not only is the sugar non-refined in homemade ice cream if you use Grade B maple syrup, but much less sweetener is used as well. For example, in the recipe below, 1/2 cup of homemade vanilla ice cream contains approximately 12g of sugar (in the form of maple syrup). The same amount of Julie’s Organic Ice cream (vanilla) contains 18g of sugar and Haagen Daaz plain vanilla contains 21g of sugar!
That is a lot less sugar in the homemade vanilla ice cream!
Of course, the cream you would source for homemade ice cream is higher quality too. Low temp pasteurized or (preferably) fresh cream from a grassbased dairy farm would contain far more nutrition than the cream from even organic cows, which are frequently still confined eating highly unnatural “organic” feed.
You will immediately notice that when you make your own ice cream, it is much more satisfying and you won’t eat nearly as much as supermarket ice cream. The lower butterfat content in supermarket and even organic ice cream results in eating more – much, much more. Believe me, ice cream manufacturers know this fact very well!
You eat more, they SELL more! Cha-ching!
Julie’s Organic Ice Cream, for example, contains cream and the second ingredient is skim milk (remember – pig farmers feed their pigs skim milk to make them very, very fat). A lower butterfat content in your ice cream will cause you to eat more, a LOT more, which is why homemade ice cream with high butterfat will satisfy you quicker and you will eat far less.
With that, let’s move right to the videoblog portion of this post. The written recipe follows.
* By the way, Kristin at Food Renegade has a post on how to make no churn ice cream if you don’t have the convenience of a machine right now.
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
makes 1 quart
3 egg yolks
3 cups heavy cream preferably fresh, raw cream from grassfed cows. Do not use ultrapasteurized cream.
1/2 cup Grade B maple syrup
1 TBL organic vanilla extract
1 TBL arrowroot powder
2 TBL vodka (optional – to soften and improve scoopability of the ice cream straight out of the freezer)
Instructions
Beat egg yolks briefly in a large, glass bowl. Do not use regular store eggs. Preferably use local, free range eggs washed in warm, soapy water before cracking. Organic store eggs are ok in a pinch.
Beat in remaining ingredients and pour into your ice cream maker. Follow your ice cream machine directions for how long the ice cream is churned. When the ice cream is frozen and ready (about 15-20 minutes for my machine), pour into a shallow, glass baking dish. Cover with a lid and keep in the freezer.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
* This post is shared at Fight Back Friday!
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks wonderful! Is it possible to make it without an ice cream maker? It's not in the budget right now but I may ask for one for Christmas since hubby likes ice cream so much
Oh and I had a thought. I have lots of silicone muffin liners and small silicone bakeware. It would be great to freeze in portion sizes so they would be easy to take out when a little ice cream is desired.
Hi Carla, I don't know how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker. There is probably a way with salt etc but I am not familiar with this method. Try to get a used an electric machine on eBay or Craigslist. With the economy the way it is with all the foreclosures, many kitchen items are up for sale for pennies on the dollar. Great idea about freezing small portions!
I got an ice cream maker for $3 at a yard sale. I think people buy them with good intentions but it becomes too much work and expense. If they aren’t dedicated to making whole food, they will just go buy the store ice cream.
will cornstarch work instead of arrowroot?
and we use one of those balls from LL Bean, and roll it from hand to hand or across the living room carpet until the cream is 'ice cream'
Yes, cornstarch will work but arrowroot would be a healthier choice, for one the majority of the corn starch on the market is GMO and second, cornstarch is a highly processed food .. here's an excerpt from an article on the WAPF website: "Corn starch is processed and refined from the kernels of corn by using a series of steeping (swelling the kernel), separation and grinding processes to separate the starch from the other parts of the kernel (which are used for animal feed.).The starch is hydrolyzed using acid, acid-enzyme, or enzyme-enzyme catalyzed processes."
I make this homemade ice cream all the time. It is so good!!! I am nursing and I assume that I can count the fat from the cream towards the 4T. of butter that I am suppose to have. Does this sound accurate to you?
A little OT, but can you use the arrowroot powder anywhere you'd use cornstarch? I have both because I had a ice cream recipe that called for the a.p. but never thought about subbing it for cornstarch (teriyaki sauce, etc.)
I mentioned the vodka in the recipe to my husband, and he immediately said " you mean for an antifreeze instead of prop. glycol?" and then proposed Kahlua for a flavored ice cream. I like the idea of improved scoopability, as this is what my kids complain about w/my homemade ice cream.
Great video, thank you, Sarah!!! I use Rapadura, but I make a custard, heating only a small bit of the milk (also made it once in my Vita Mix, by accident – was trying to make butter, got it too hot, so made it into ice cream custard!). I'm looking fwd to trying yours, with the maple syrup and no-cook. I get Grade B maple syrup from Sam's Club – do you think it's ok? It's not labeled organic but previous research I've done led me to believe that it is ok (formaldehyde is no longer used).
Carla – great idea! I have Pampered Chef one cup glass containers I use (with lids), but glass I like your idea much better (no glass to break!).
Thanks, once again, for all the wonderful info, Sarah – I greatly value what you are doing!
Maybe I missed this, but what is the purpose of the arrowroot? For thickening? I've never used that in my homemade ice cream before. Also, I use xylitol as a sweetener as it does not raise blood sugar like syrup or honey. For those of us with endocrine issues, that's a big deal. I'm excited about the vodka idea; can't wait to see if that makes a difference. By the way, for Carla, I got my Cuisinart ice cream maker at Bed, Bath & Beyond for like $30 (it makes 3 cups at a time). If you sign up for their email list, they'll give you a 20% off coupon too.
I’ve made this ice cream without the arrowroot powder, and it turned out just fine.
Hi Joyce, yes – arrowroot is a good sub for cornstarch as a general rule. And, yes – any alcohol should work fine in the ice cream for improving scoopability. Just make sure the alcohol of the amount of Kahlua you use is about the same as the 2 TBL of vodka per quart of ice cream. I don't know the proofs of them offhand.
Hi Miss D, the arrowroot does thicken the ice cream a bit and give it some body. It is texturizer. You could probably leave it out if you are avoiding starches for some reason.
Hi Amy, the Sam's club grade B maple syrup is probably fine. I don't think organic maple syrup is much of an improvement over regular as maple trees aren't sprayed to my knowledge. Thanks also for the encouraging words!
does anyone know what's the difference between grade a and grade b maple syrup? (other than color…?) also, is arrowroot a one-to-one substitute for recipes that call for cornstarch as a thickener?
Hi Felicia, from what I have been told by those that understand the process of making maple syrup, when the syrup is put in barrels the grade A stuff is what comes to the top .. it is lighter and lower in minerals than the Grade B which is at the bottom of the barrel.
I am not sure about the cornstarch as I have only ever use arrowroot or flour for thickening.
Just wondering if I could leave the eggs out, or substitute for something else due to egg allergies?
Yes, you can leave the egg yolks out if you have an egg allergy.
Hi Sarah,
this recipe looks very good. But do you think I can somehow make it in a Vitamix?
Thank you,
Olga
No, I don't think a Vitamix would work as you need a freezing unit which is the main part of the ice cream machine for the ice cream to be gradually frozen in as it is churned.
I love raw milk ice cream!
I always have too many egg whites leftover from ice cream, creme brulee, mayo, etc, I would love to see the recipe for the protein cookies you make with them, but I can't find it on your blog. Can you post the link?
Hi Lisa, the protein cookie vlog is under the Free Cooking Classes section under "Snacks and Sweets". If you type "protein cookies" in the search box on the blog, the link will also come up as the first search result. These cookies are my kids' favorite!
Olga,
I make a no-churn ice-cream all the time. The reason you traditionally churn ice-cream WHILE freezing it is that (to be scoopable) you need to freeze it with air bubbles in it. The churning helps create and capture those air bubbles. Otherwise when you freeze cream it will just turn into a solid block.
BUT, you can capture the air bubbles before freezing IF YOU WHIP THE CREAM FIRST. Whip the cream into tall peaks, then gently fold in the other ingredients. Then quickly move to the freezer. And, ta-dah! It's ice cream without an ice cream maker.
Thanks for the suggestions. I live in Canada and have been scouring every resource. After "ice cream" shopping with hubby and pointing out the labels and ingredients plus with how much he likes it, I think he's on board with shelling out the money for a good ice cream maker. It will pay for itself in no time in quality, taste and better health!
I have become obsessed with your wealth of information and am lucky enough that my son's yoga teacher is on a traditional eating journey as well to help me through with my many questions. I am just having the hardest time switching to raw milk, butter, local eggs etc. Any suggestions? And you said it is possible to leave out the egg yolks, what will be the sacrifice?
Thanks
Hi Lauren, I wouldn't leave out the egg yolks unless you are allergic to eggs. They add significant nutrition to the ice cream and should be included if at all possible. Just get good quality eggs and wash them in warm, soapy water before cracking and there is little to be concerned about.
Has anyone tried making this with Stevia?
I just love this ice cream recipe. I noticed that someone asked about making it without an ice cream maker. I don't have one either but I have found a way to make it and it is great. I freeze the heavy cream in a large pyrex baking dish so that it is thin enough for me to just chunk it out after it is frozen. I put that and the other ingredients in my Ninja blender contraption and whip it all up. I then put it in a pyrex dish for the freezer and it has been great. Of course I don't have the maker kind to compare but we are definitely in love with this. I have made the vanilla….. I have added frozen peaches…… and I have uses some of my homemade chocolate syrup to make those flavors. Just wanted to share
I have made this 3 times already. The first time I ran out of arrowroot, so I just left it out, it was fine that way too! So now I am making it without arrowroot. I don't have access to real raw cream, so I just use harmony organic half and half, it is not very expensive and the ice cream is very scoopable with it, I don't have to wait for 10 minutes in order it softens up in order to eat it. Also, I do have access to raw whole milk, so I make my kids a shake with this ice cream in a blender:
1 scoop of ice cream, 1 cup milk, sometimes some organic chocolate powder. They love it and it is nutritious!
Hi Sarah-
We just made and tasted our first batch of homemade vanilla ice cream. Yum! My girls actually prefer “soft serve” so we didn’t have to wait to freeze it before we enjoyed it (though we did freeze what we did not eat). The girls loved helping to make it and checked the ice cream maker every few seconds to see if it was ready. I know you don’t need to clutter your blog with various ice cream recipes, but Brooks wants me to ask, “How do you make chocolate ice cream?” (Okay, I want to know, too.) The raw cream costs a pretty penny, so I’d rather ask than experiment.
Thank you – again – for your blog and all that you do to share your Traditional Foods wisdom.
Blessings,
Mary
Hi Mary, awesome, way to go!
We actually haven’t ever made chocolate ice cream and all the recipes out there require heating the cream to get the cocoa to blend it before putting it it the ice cream maker. What you would do to maintain the rawness of the cream is to take a small amount of the raw cream and heat it on the stove with the cocoa/chocolate whatever (based on whatever recipe you are following) and blend it in and then blend that heated chocolate cream in with the rest of the raw cream before putting in the ice cream maker. So, you just add one additional step. Adding a small amount of hot cream to a much greater amount of cold cream will not alter the enzyme balance significantly since only a small amount of cream was actually heated and it won’t heat up the rest of the cream much at all. Hope that makes sense!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist\’s last post: Dual Chemical Threat Lurks in Store Beverages
I make chocolate ice cream with Sarah’s Vanilla Ice Cream recipe by melting 1 cup dark chocolate chips and adding that to the mix while I am beating it before I put it into the ice cream maker. It has been loved by all that have eaten it and it doesn’t compromise the raw cream.
Ooo, that sounds delicious!
Thanks for the tip! That’s just what I was wondering.
Hi Sarah,
My all time favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. Could I substitute peppermint extract for vanilla extract and add chocolate chips (everything organic & non-GMO, of course) and do everything else as in the video? Thanks!
Shady Lady\’s last post: A Little Faux Pas
We have actually have made mint chip ice cream before with this recipea as the base. Here’s how we did it:
First, we juiced about 2 cups of fresh mint leaves (from our herb garden) in a juicer. Add this juice to your ice cream batter, along with 1 (4 oz) bar of your favorite organic chocolate, broken into small bits with a hammer (we like the whole foods brand; organic, and no soy lecithin). Just fold it all together and churn it like you normally would! It is SO yummy.
Thank you, I have recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far.
I made this today in a borrowed Cuisinart ice cream maker and it is DELISH! Out of the freezer it melts very quickly so we had to eat fast! There is no chemical aftertaste as with store-bought boxed ice cream (even the natural ones!) I could kinda taste the egg yolk a little though – my imagination? It wasn’t a bad taste or anything. I did forget to wash the local free-range eggs in warm soapy water. (I just washed in water). Hope I don’t get a tummy ache! Thanks for posting this!
p.s. How do I make it with rapadura/sucanat instead of maple syrup? Hubby has very sensitive taste buds and isn’t used to maple ice cream.
Wow, he can taste the maple syrup flavor? I’m kind of impressed; I sure couldn’t!
I disolve the required ammount of sucanat in about 2/3 of said ammount in water (the exact ammounts depend on how much I’m making). I will usually heat the water until it feels very hot, but not burning, to the touch. This helps to speed up the disolving process. Mind you, though, it can still take a bit to be completely disolved.
Hello,
Must the eggs go into the ice cream maker RAW? Most other recipes call for heating the milk/cream to steaming, then tempering it into the whisked eggs….then all goes back into pot until about 170 degrees. Mix is then cooled overnight and then goes into the maker. Point being…is there a way to cook the egg yolks for safety sake…then into ice cream maker? Thanks in advance.
The point of this ice cream recipe is that it is raw; we are preserving enzymes and nutrients. And if you are sourcing fresh, local eggs from healthy hens, and the eggs are washed just prior to use, there is almost NO risk of salmonella poisoning, and even if some salmonella did get in your ice cream, freezing it would kill it off! Trust me, I know from experience. I have been adding lots of raw, local egg yolks to my smoothies many a morning for several years now, and have never once gotten sick. Neither has the rest of my family, and we are always eating raw egg yolks.
Hi Sarah,
I’ve been making ice cream for years following my grandmother’s recipe. Unfortunately it called for sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk so I’ve been searching for a better recipe. I have found a few (you’re is churning on my counter as I type) but all call for only egg yolks. My grandmother’s recipe used whole eggs and even when I scaled it down to fill my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker I always used whole eggs. What is the objection/reason for recipes these days to use only the yolk?
thanks!
blessings!
Hi Danielle,
Egg yolks are richer and have a smoother texture than egg whites, hence the reason why custard and ice cream recipes prefer the former over the latter. The egg yolk also contains almost all of the nutrients in the egg, and 40% of the protein. Cooking the egg yolk causes it to loose some of its nutritional quality. The white, however, contains enzyme and B-vitamin inhibitors, and therefore should be cooked for the best nutrient absorbtion. That’s why the best way to cook eggs is to soft boil them, or fry them over easy or sunny-side up!
Hope this helps!
Ariel
I forgot to mention that heat destroys the inhibitors found in the egg whites, and that’s why they should be cooked.
Hi Sarah
Glad I found your blog via Radiant Life and Weston Price. Just a question about the name of the brand of sourdough presliced bread you buy.
Thanks a bunch, Renee
Hi,
My raw cream is not pourable. It is quite thick. Should I add some milk to it so it is pourable like yours? This recipe looks great. Thank you, Sue
I am in the market for an ice cream maker and am wondering what you recommend in terms of what the freezing container is made of (where the ice cream comes into contact with the walls of the vessel.) It is very difficult to tell on the websites I have looked at and I am wondering if it makes any difference since we are freezing and not cooking?
P.S. I am new to WAPF. Thank you ten fold for your blog and all your videos. From someone who is starting from scratch, THANK YOU!
This was soo amazing! It knocked out my pregnant-woman ice cream cravings! Thanks for the recipe!