Yummy Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Maker

I'm not talking about food storage today. Except for the kind that you eat and it is stored on your waistline. Today is our 36th wedding anniversary and we had big plans. Well maybe just little plans for the anniversary and the whole weekend in fact. Then my husband had to work. Bummer I know but he ended up working 3 of his 4 days off. So, I'm making ice cream and cleaning house.

He is an awesome man and I love him so much. He has always been such a hard worker and a great example. I'm so glad that I married him. Best decision I ever made!

So, since it's my anniversary and I can do what I want because I'm home alone, I want to share a recipe that has nothing to do with food storage. I’ve been having so much fun this summer making different kinds of ice creams and I’d like to share a quick and easy recipe that doesn’t require an ice cream maker. I used to make these easy ice cream recipes years ago but I was pretty boring in my recipes; usually just chocolate or vanilla. There are so many fun add-ins these days and you can get wild and crazy with what you put in your ice cream if you want. You can tweak the basic recipe to add whatever you want or have on hand. The only thing I would say is that it really needs to freeze overnight. Mine doesn’t get as hard as other ice creams I make but when I told my husband that, he said he thought it was a lot like soft ice cream that you get when you buy cones in different places. Anyway, he said it’s one of his favorites. So here goes:

Quick and Easy Ice Cream
2 c. heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 T. butter (makes it very creamy)
½ c. Nutella
1 c. mini (½“) peanut butter cups or chop larger cups
Roasted sliced or slivered almonds (didn’t add these but will next time)
Whip cream till stiff. Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, melted butter and Nutella. Fold in desired add-ins and fold in whipped cream gradually. Put in a sealed container and freeze 8 hours or overnight. The basic recipe is just the cream, sweetened condensed milk and butter. From there you can add anything you like.

Suggested variations: start with sweetened condensed milk and add in your favorite fruits, syrups, topping or whatever you like. Stir in your choice of chopped fruit, nuts, chip, chopped candy bars, brownies or whatever you like. A fun idea is to let the ice cream freeze for a few hours, then stir in a little of the magic shell topping in kind of a marbled way and you’ll have crunchy chocolate mixed in with your ice cream.

This recipe called for Nutella and peanut butter chips but I used the teeny tiny peanut butter cups instead and they are so good.

Cinnamon Vanilla: To the sweetened condensed milk add 3 T. melted butter, ½ t. cinnamon and ½ t. vanilla extract for a cinnamon vanilla ice cream. Note: I have to admit I was skeptical about the melted butter but you never know it’s there and it makes the ice cream so rich and smooth.

Cherry-chocolate: Stir some cherry pie filling into your milk, 2 T. melted butter, add ¼ t. almond extract (optional) and chocolate chips a delicious cherry chocolate ice cream.

S’mores: Add crushed graham cracker crumbs, chocolate syrup, mini marshmallows (or marshmallow cream stirred in only slightly so you have a marbled effect). Try some chocolate magic shell after a few hours of freezing.

Cookies and cream: Stir in 3 T. butter, crushed Oreos and ½ t. – 1 t. vanilla extract to your sweetened condensed milk.

If you have made this or do make it, I’d love to hear of any variations you try. Can’t wait to make this again!