How to create easy homemade ice cream recipes
your family can't live without

Before we get started creating homemade ice cream recipes, think about what kinds of ice cream your family loves to eat.

Think about texture, flavors, special dietary needs, etc. You could write it all down...

or you could do what I did...

and just start with what you like.
Give them the old "You'll eat whatever I fix or go without" rule.

Chances are...

no one will care what flavor you make. They just want ice cream!

Here's what I've found...

The easiest way to come up with your own homemade ice cream recipes is to start with a basic homemade vanilla or chocolate ice cream recipe and then modify it to create other ice cream recipes. ( It's called experimenting.

Oh yeah...
isn't that how some of us learned to cook? Who knows? You could accidentally discover the next best ice cream flavor.)

Ok, although I'm no expert in making ice cream, I will tell you how I came up with my recipes.

• The first thing I did was study other homemade ice cream recipes (including the ones that came with my ice cream maker). I noticed patterns and got a feel for the basic ingredients in recipes that were very easy to make and didn't require cooking with heat.
  You know, something my kids could mix together.
• Next, was the texture and consistency. I had to play around with the cream. For me, I had the "Goldilocks" experience...

  The heavy cream and whipping cream was too creamy and the half and half was not creamy enough.

  And yes, I did try using different ratios of heavy cream to half and half or milk and whipping cream to half and half. You'll probably have to do a little trial and error also to find what you like.
  After much trial and error, I have decided that I prefer custard based ice creams. (They don't leave a thick coating on my tongue)

• After I decided on a basic recipe, I started adding other flavors and ingredients like extracts or crushed cookies, chocolate chips, cookie dough (without eggs), fresh fruit, etc.

  (One time I made mint chocolate chip using mint extract, which has spearmint and peppermint flavors. It tasted like mint flavored gum. Kind of strange, but the kids liked it. Still, I doubt I'll make that again).

To create my cookies and cream ice cream , I just added some crushed oreo cookies to my basic vanilla ice cream during the last 5 minutes.

This turned out great, so I've included it on this site.

Don't worry about making mistakes. It's all part of the fun of creating your own flavors of ice cream. Get the whole family involved. Try out their ideas. Maybe even give your flavors goofy names (like Ben and Jerry's does).

Just remember to have fun. 'Cause isn't that what ice cream is all about?

What are you still doing here?

Get out that ice cream maker and make some ice cream with your homemade ice cream recipes or...

Try one of my recipes:

Phyladelphia Style (no eggs)

homemade vanilla ice cream recipe// chocolate ice cream recipe// chocolate chip ice cream// strawberry ice cream// cookie dough ice cream// cookies and cream ice cream// coconut ice cream// banana ice cream// mint cookies and cream ice cream// berry jam ice cream// nutella ice cream


Custard Style

vanilla ice cream// rocky road ice cream// cinnamon ice cream// pumpkin ice cream


Soy Ice Cream (dairy free, egg free, gluten free)

soy cookie dough ice cream// soy coconut ice cream// soy chocolate ice cream// soy strawberry ice cream

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