2 simple secrets to making luscious ice cream without a machine
[5 ingredients]

• Can’t wait for the shops to open up tomorrow so that I can try it out!
  Thank you for sharing.

• I’m on a mission this summer to turn cream liqueurs into ice-cream (Amarula Cream, Cape Velvet, Hot Sex, you name it). With another hot Xmas due in the Southern Hemisphere I reckon those will go down a treat with the traditional fruitcake and mince pies! No ice-cream maker in sight, so your post is a life-saver.

• I can’t wait for the liquor experimentations ;) (Yes, I know, I’m underage, but the thought of Kahlua coffee ice cream excites me.)

• Thanks for sharing! Love this video. Simple and really look nice. You really blow my mind & change my view on cooking!
  Awesome. Keep it up!!!

• I really wanted to know how to make a chocolate ice cream without an ice cream machine…
  But I´ll try this lemon one first!

• Hi Jules, I’m so excited for this ice cream recipe! I don’t have an ice cream machine and don’t plan on getting one. I’ll try this recipe when I get some whipping cream on hand. Thanks!

• michelle
  love the way your mind works – let us know how you get on with your experiments.

  wei-wei
  yum kahlua icecream sounds like a winner!

  thanks alwayslovely

  joana
  I actually have mastered the chocolate icecream thing a while ago – cocoa powder helps retard ice crystals: https://stonesoup.mystagingwebsite.com/2008/09/we-have-the-technology/
  this was before I discovered 5 ingredients – think this recipe could do with an update!

  hsinya
  yay! I’m really excited about it too. Enjoy

• Brilliant! I’ve struggled with this too.

  A friend of mine who has an ice cream machine reckons sorbets work well if you don’t have an ice cream maker, especially if you freeze the fruit first. Then you can blend or process it and chuck it in the freezer, whisking every half hour or so.

• OK – So now it is just a waiting game! (6hrs to go)
  It was so easy to make and batter tastes delicious.
  Will let you know how it turns out.

• Thank you thank you! I don’t have an ice cream maker nor the kitchen space for one and, like you, frequently sigh then pass over ice cream blog posts. It’s wonderful to find some tips for making it by hand!

  Plus, lemon? Only one of the best dessert flavours ever :)

• lau
  I find the best sorbet method is to start with frozen fruit then puree it in the food processor with a little sugar until you have instant sorbet… much easier than having to whisk regularly.

  cynthia
  you don’t waste any time – I’m impressed! Look forward to hearing what you think of the finished product.

  pleasure hannah
  I’m hearing you about lemon..so good.

• Even though I have an ice cream machine, it (embarrassingly) has been sitting, unused, in my kitchen after I HAD to have it several Christmases ago. I’m going to try the lemon ice cream recipe as soon as I can get some cream, though!

• caity
  we’ve all been there… good of you to admit it!
  actually if you use your icecream machine to freeze this mixture it should freeze faster than just using the freezer…

• 6 1/2 hours later and I couldn’t wait any longer. It is just delicious and so super creamy.
  Thank you so much jules for sharing this with us – it is seriously good.

• awesome cynthia
  so glad you liked it ;)

• WOW I never knew ice cream was so ridiculously easy to make!! Homemade ice cream here I come! Thanks Jules you’re the BEST!!

• Hi Jules

  Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I made roasted pistachio paste a few days ago and was going to do a traditional custard based ice cream with it. I saw your recipe and I decided to give it a go. It really exceeded my expectations. The texture is like a semifreddo, which I love, and it’s great that it has no eggs or thickeners. Wonderful. I’ll be blogging about my pistachio ice cream and will certainly give you the credit you so deserve.

• Ice cream is my weakness :-) I’ve never made it but after reading this I’m going to do it!! The pictures are extra tempting. I also shared the love with another foodie friend.

  Thank you, Jules ~ nomnom

  Krista

• Hi Jules and friends,
  I was hoping for a sugarless ice cream because my family is rife with people allergic to that processed stuff. However, my son has started using agave as a sweetener all of us can tolerate, and produces seriously good whipped cream with it. I suspect he can make some great ice cream with your method. Enjoy the year-end holidays — we’ll be skiing, you’ll be swimming. What a wonderful world!

• Ever since making your ‘machine-free honey icecream’ I’ve been thinking about making a red wine icecream, but wasn’t sure about the chemistry of alcohol and whether it might hinder my icecream from turning out. And then in this entry you’ve mentioned that alcohol actually helps!

  So… yesterday, following this recipe (so much lighter than the honey icecream – amazing!), I reduced the sugar a little, to 230g, and threw in about 3/4 cup of a cabernet saivignon, and voila! Served with a couple of choc-dipped strawberries it blew my mind – and was a real hit with the guests. Yet another wonderful recipe idea from the stonesoup :)

• Hey Jules,

  I made the ice cream for a dinner party last night. It was a big hit. And so easy. Thanks.

• Awesome Ross
  glad you enjoyes

  Wow Cat
  I would never have thought of red wine icecream – now I’m going to have to try it!

  pat
  look forward to hearing how the agave syrup turns out – enjoy the snow!

• I tried this out and it was sooooo good. Thanks so much, my family absolutely loved it.

  Freeze Dried Foods
  Daily Bread
  Food Storage

• Never did I think I could make ice cream without a machine! Thank you for this, it came out deliciously. Now I shall try out the other suggestions in the comments. Here’s to a winter of ice cream!

• OMG! Did I ever tell you I love you? I do you know. Very much so! Even more now! I L-O-V-E ice cream and don’t have the room for a machine either. This is perfect and I’m copying all the wonderful tips from your readers too! I can’t wait to try it!

• Jules, you are the best!! I can’t thank you enough for sharing all this with us. I’ve already made your honey ice cream a few months ago and it was splendid. I’m going to try this one in the coming week as well. Can’t wait! :)

• Hello!

  Amazing recipie. I’m really keen on trying it out! How much would you say a third of an Australian cup is in european measures (ml)? Also, is the sugar you’re using of that kind that is as fine as potato (or wheat) flour? English cooking terminology really isn’t my strong side.

  Regards from Finland, where we really could leave the mix outside overnight to have it freeze :)
  ~rL

• hey RL
  1/3 cup is about 83mL & yes the sugar needs to be as fine as flour.
  keep warm!

• So excited, this is in the freezer as I type. A question about the lemon juice: can you use any other liquid, or does the acid in the lemon perform some vital function? Was thinking of doing chambord ice cream with raspberry compote rippled throughout. Or espresso, etc. Can you sub the lemon juice for most liquids, including plain water?

• WOW I thought it would be too good to be true, but this was truly wonderful, even in the big freezer which makes ice cream normally way too solid. You are a legend! Thank you thank you thank you.

• Zo
  Great question!
  The lemon just flavours and balances the sweetness of all that sugar. You could easily substitute in coffee or a raspberry puree – the possibilities are endless. I’ve even main a vanilla and it was lovely, although quite sweet.
  Do let me know if you experiment.

• Love this post and thank you for the useful tips :)

• I love lemon ice cream but I hardly ever see it sold in stores. Since I got my ice cream maker a few years ago, I experiment with all sorts of flavors. It’s good to know this is even simpler!

• I’m thinking of making a fig and honey ice cream! I’ve had it before in India and it was just so superb. If I used honey instead of sugar do you think this will still work? As for the fig, I was thinking of using boiling hot water to break down the fig and then make it into a paste and then mix it with honey and perhaps some orange blossom flavoring (or rose) alternatively, I could use rose hips or maybe dried hibiscus? I just want to put a herbal or flowery scent into the mix.

  Gosh, I’m so eager to try it now. Thank you for sharing, Jules. Best wishes!

  sri

• I, of course, would love to see a vegan ice cream…with five ingredients or less…that tastes as delicious as this recipe looked! That would be a feat!

• sri
  good question on the honey – as long as you get enough sugar to retard the ice crystals it should work – I guess the difficulty would be getting the honey evenly distributed with the cream – maybe you’d need to heat them together then cool and whip?? I think little chunks of fig would be lovely.

  ach
  yes vegan icecream would be a feat – can’t imagine how you’d do it to be honest.

• I will have to give this a try. One of my kids is allergic to egg so most home made icecream recipes we can’t make even if we did have a machine. I will definitely give this a go. I LOVE lemon.

• yay sharon
  it’s perfect for people with egg allergies like my dad!
  enjoy!

• Wow! This is really something so helpful to me. I have been thinking of some ways since I don’t have a machine.

• My favorite dessert is ice cream/I can eat it all the time/love to travel just to try different ice cream shops. TIA

• Watch this space for a class at the Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School starting in a few weeks all about ice cream!

  me too maria
  travel and ice cream are favourites of mine too!

• I’m really excited to try this, but I’d like to substitute vanilla instead of lemon. How much vanilla should I use?

• hi adrienne
  I’ve got a vanilla recipe in my ice cream class at The Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School http://stonesoupvirtualcookeryschool.com/2011/01/make-ice-cream-without-a-machine-course-information/

  I generally use 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or you could use the same of vanilla extract or the scraped seeds of one vanilla bean pod.. you’ll need to reduce the amount of sugar to compensate for not having the lemon juice as well

• Hi,
  I absolutely love your recipe for this and your blog, I have recently been looking at cooking blogs here there and everywhere and fell completely in love with yours. I added a link on my blog to this recipe and also to your blog in general I hope you dont mind.
  Thanks for the excellent food tips and recipe’s
  :)

• This recipe looks lovely! I can’t wait to try it. Any suggestions on how I could incorporate rhubarb as opposed to or in addition to lemon? I am desperate to make a rhubarb ice cream, but alas, don’t have a machine.

• I love rhubarb Casey!

  My first guess would be to make the icecream as above but skip the lemon juice. Freeze overnight. Then I’d cook rhubarb with a little sugar (either roast or in a pot) until it’s all falling apart. Then puree the rhubarb and stir into the ice cream. It shouldn’t need sugar because the icecream is quite sweet.

  Do let me know how you get on if you try it!

• Jules
  Made this yesterday and it is so smooth and delicious, cant wait to try different flavours.

• yay trish! so glad you liked it

• I love your photographs, they make me drool even when I’m just full from a meal! I love the ideas behind your recipes, but I haven’t yet tried any of them. I want to try the ice cream, but a few questions. What is whipping cream exactly? Here in India we get tetra packs (cardboard boxes?) of cream and as far as I know, it’s just the one sort (and one brand). It tends to be fairly fluid, but can get more solid in the fridge. Also, can I just run ordinary sugar through the mixer down until it gets powdery and use that instead of the icing sugar sold in stores?
  I can’t wait to taste the lemon, I love the idea. Then if that’s a success (so far I only get icy ice cream and I blame it on the milk) I have ideas for coffee, chocolate, cashew, orange, honey…

• Oh, and I forgot, can I use a motorised hand mixer to whisk?

• Swapna
  Whipping cream is standard cream – about 37% fat – if you can whip it it will be fine. You could make your own icing sugar – just be careful you don’t have any large crystals left or you’ll ruin the smooth texture.
  and either is fine for mixing

• I just made this ice cream today and it is truly amazing! My husband and I were very, very impressed. No need to get a maker now! I even had to sub in a tiny bit of granulated sugar because I was low on icing sugar. A question, though. Do you have any suggestions for any additional flavours? And with those flavors, how can I be sure that I’m using the correct amount of sugar? Like, what is the absolute minimal amount of sugar one should use with any of the recipes? I get so nervous with experimenting on my own. Thank you for answering my questions!

• Great Valerie,
  I’ve made it with half the sugar by accident and it was terribly icy. So that’s as low as I’d go.

  If you’d like to learn more. There’s a class on ice cream over at the Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School where we look at every thing from raspberry ripple to dark chocolate to caramel (dulche de leche) and many more..
  http://stonesoupvirtualcookeryschool.com/2011/01/make-ice-cream-without-a-machine-course-information/

• I made this yesterday with 220g sugar (about a 12% reduction) and it was beautifully smooth. I might try with 200g sugar next time. How low your sugar content can go is going to depend quite a lot on the temperature of your freezer, though, and probably where you put it in the freezer as well, since most freezers aren’t terribly even.

  Theoretically there should be a way to calculate the perfect balance for all this, but unfortunately my understanding of the thermodynamic properties of cream isn’t good enough to work it out. I will say that, from my research, adding a little alcohol will lower the freezing point much faster than sugar, so that might be a good avenue to explore.

• Hi!! Thanks for this super easy and yummy recipe!! I tried it with orange juice and absolutely happy with the result!!! But my family members found this ice-cream way bit oversweet. Is there any way I can reduce the sweetness by a bit?
  Thanks!!

• Arti
  The orange juice would be contributing sweetness… try it with lemon instead if you want less sweet

• Made this for a group of friends and it was a success! Thanks so much for such a simple and lip-smacking recipe!

• Hi Jules
  I tried this recipe with cinnamon (2tsp) and it worked a treat, but I also tried it with honey (1/2 cup) and obviously there’s too much sugar because it doesn’t freeze, just is kind of thick and sticky. Do you have any rescue tips for ice-cream? Perhaps I could add another half cup of cream to this sticky batch and reduce some of the sugar in the next batch since the honey adds a good dose of it?

  Thanks for your advice,
  Sarah

• Hi Sarah
  Great work experimenting…
  Yes is you whip half a cup of cream and fold through the sticky batch that should do the trick… and next time reduce the sugar as you suggest…
  Let me know how you get on!
  J

• I don’t understand, this says 5 recipes but there are only 3… Am I missing one?

• amanda
  it’s 5 OR less so there are only 3.. sorry for the confusion

• Hey, thanks for this amazing recipe. My husband is addicted to lemon, I made this for him with a simple change of more lemon juice and the zest of a lemon…..well he considered it to be orgasmic desert.
  SO quick and SO easy – thanks.

• Is there a way to make this with Splenda?

• If you want to use less sugar, you can use Glycerine, I use a tablespoon to every pint of liquid, and it’s great as it no longer freezes to a brick. It is now firm but scopes very well. You don’t need to take it out of the freezer prior to serving etc, and you don’t need to use such large quantities of sugar. Great for the waistline.

  Linda

• PS this is my favourite recipe:

  Servings: 32
  2 (405g) tins sweetened condensed milk
  1.2L (2 pints) milk
  475ml (16 fl oz) double cream
  2 tablespoons vanilla essence
  1/2 teaspoon salt

  Though I half this usually. As you can see it doesn’t need the sugar! To this I add two tablespoons of Glycerine, or one if I half it. It stays lovely and scoopable.. (is that even a word? lol) This is my base recipe then to this I add what ever I want. For instance I made a peach Ice cream last night, by emptying a tin of peaches in their juices into the blender, then mixed it with the above, any thing is fine, just as long as you add the Glycerine. :)

• Linda!
  You are a star.. I’m having a why didn’t I think of glycerine moment..
  Thanks for sharing your recipe as well.. sounds lovely
  J

• My 3 year old and I just whipped up a batch of this and WOW! How fun and easy! Thanks so much.

• Hello,im so thankful to you to watch your vedeo,its so yummy,,more flavors pls.

• Great thank to you. I’m now enjoying this ice cream :)

• Hello,
  I was wondering if this recipe or Linda’s recipe could be modified for pineapple flavour and pineapple chunks? My partner is crazy about pineapple though not so crazy bout overly sweet things, he loves cookies so I was going to make him pineapple cookies but i wanted an ice cream to go with them. So could anyone help me with a recipe please?

• The creamy lemon icecream only has 3 ingredients listed
  What are the other 2u said it has?

• This is amazing how complicated it looks but how easy,simple and fast it is to actually make it

  • Glad you liked it Ennaria!

• I wonder how erythritol (sp?) would work? I’m avoiding sugar. Thanks.

• You read my mind! I have no room for another kitchen machine but have wondered if there is a way to make all natural ice cream without one. Thanks for sharing!

• @Jenna Penguin: Pineapple doesn’t seem to freeze well without making any base watery, just for the sheer composition of pineapple. (*Though I could be wrong).

  These recipes sound delicious and cannot wait to try the sugarless version, as I have friends are Type 1 diabetics. Thank you so much!

• PERFECT!!! I tried this recipe and it was amazing, I also made another batch with some modification in the recipe by using 1/4 cup of coffee instead of lemon and 200g of sugar with 50g of cocoa powder and the result was amazing too, smooth & creamy ice cream. Thanks :)

  • Mohyee!
    Great idea to go for coffee and cocoa powder.. will have to try that myself
    Jx

• Hay jules,,, m sorry but m not satisfied with ur recipe dre is too much sweet content its give only creamy flavour end of the day…..its only kind of twsity recipe…..
  If u have any kulfi recipe share it with me…..i hope u not minded whatever i writened…

  • Hi Aslam
    Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts! This is a little on the sweet side so not everyone will love it… but the sugar is important for the texture.
    I don’t have a kulfi recipe I’m afraid
    All the best
    Jx

• I would certainly try this one next week end. I’m sure my children will have fun making this! Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed reading your post

• Dear Jule,
  I bought the Embork Whipping Cream but no matter how hard I whisked I couldn’t get the curd texture. Did I buy the wrong cream?
  I’m from Singapore.

  • Hi Ewe
    I’m sorry I’m not familiar with Embork cream.. if it’s not whipping for you, sounds like you need to try another cream. It needs to have at least 30% milk fat to whip so any lite creams are a no go.

• Wow! This is just great! I’m so grateful I bumped myself into this blog. Thanks for sharing. :)

• Hi Jules,
  thanks so much for sharing your creation. Overly sweet but its nothing a little tweaking can’t fix. By the way when using glycerine how much would you suggest?
  Thanks in advance

  • Hi SaJer
    I haven’t had much success with glycerine.. but start at 2-3 teaspoons and see how you get on.

• Thank you so very much for a awesome recipe along with amazing tips…

  • You’re welcome Deeksha!

• Its in the freezer as I type – – first experiment. If its a success I am gonna try the orange and the peach and nectarine too. mmmmm.
  Cheers
  Jan,
  Gozo.

  • Peach and nectarine sound lovely Jan!
    Enjoy

• Hi Jules! There’s a recipe that I found that uses condensed milk instead of icing sugar, but the method is the same. I’m just wondering how different using condensed milk will be. :) I’m thinking of giving your recipe a go this weekend as I already have all the ingredients. Thanks!

  • HI Pauline
    I’ve made icecream with condensed milk and it’s lovely but tends to be much heavier than this one because it doesn’t have the whipped cream for the air.

• I stumbled upon this two days ago. After making it last night I can honestly say ABSOLUTE HEAVEN! I used peach nectar instead of lemon. Sooo wonderfully creamy and delicious!

  • Jason
    That peach sounds lovely… great idea

• I bought an ice cream maker about 2 weeks ago. I gave up after multiple fails. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your recipe. It’s delicious. But, it tastes a little fattening to me though. Do you have any suggestion to substitute the heavy cream with? Thank you again, my ice cream maker now means nothing to me. =D

  • I’m happy to hear about it Boodsara
    You really need the heavy cream to whip and get the air into the ice cream…
    Sorry!

• Just made the same recipe, i also chopped up 2 mangos and froze them, whip it up with 2 egg whites till thick and fold it in with the existing recipe, lemon and mango twirl.

  • LOVING the mango swirl idea Mark!
    Thanks for sharing

• I am all for this type of ice-cream,,which I made quite a lot of over the years.I never measure anything, taste as you go along…A favourite was a bird’s eye custard ice-cream, but living in the west indian island if Trinidad where goat’s milk is the best milk to use…..some times we would make ice cream cubes…you must try these…enjoy, Querino

• Hello Jules

  I think this recipe looks good, but I would like to see a recipe for vanilla ice cream – could you give me your thoughts?

  At the moment, I make one with 2x tins condensed milk, 300ml single cream and 200g creme fraiche, with 1 tbsp vanilla flavouring – I mix it up, then 3 hours later mix it again and freeze until solid. This is usually a bit hard to scoop so I have to take it out half an hour before serving! It is lovely though.

  Also, what do you mean when you say that metal conducts the heat better? I didn’t know it used heat!

  I’d be glad of your thoughts please…

• I love ice cream, and I don’t have an ice cream maker, so seeing that you can make ice cream without one, really caught my attention. I would definitely like a virtual class on it…Thanks … can’t wait to try this lemon ice cream…Lemon is my favorite flavor!!

• What would you suggest for a peach ice cream recipe? My Daddy has requested I make it and it needs to be special as my mother used to make it for him and she passed last Feb. I can’t find her recipe! Any advice you might give would be very much appreciated! Joyfully, philippa

  • I’d Puree fresh peaches (nice and ripe) and use in place of the lemon juice (maybe leave a few tablespoons lemon in to keep the flavours fresh. Sorry to hear about your Mother Philippa :)

• My sister made this lemon ice cream to go with a lemon raspberry cake I made for our mothers birthday last week. It was an absolute hit with all who ate it!!! I loved it so much I just got done making a batch instead of buying icing!! One thing my sister did that I loved, was adding lemon and lime zest!!! Thank you so for this lovely recipe, we will make it over and over!!!

  • So glad you liked it Rachel!

• Hi,

  So basically you mean that whichever flavor we are targetting, just whip the flavor with cream along with other side ingredients and that’s it?

  I wana try Butterscotch and blueberry ice creams.

  Thanks for the easy steps :):)

• I’m a diabetic and can’t use all that sugar. Is there another way to prevent crystals ?
  Thank You

  • Not that I’ve found yet sorry Patty! Working on it though :)

  • Create a gelato. See my comment below. The lack of air makes a much easier freeze, with less air making less ice crystals. It thus does not need as much sugar and is much more diabetic friendly.
    Make a milk gelato as your base then add flavouring.
    As said. Worried about ice cream cookery schools, if this is this not known, and i claim I know next to nothing about cooking.

  • I don’t know if this will be useful but I was watching food network the other day and heard some chef say that “fat” makes ice cream smoother, I’d suggest using cream with high fat content or adding egg yolk as it contains enough fat.

    • Fat helps but the smoothness is really from having smaller ice crystals.

• Your missing facts that make me think, What a waste of time reading.
  You talk a lot , quite arrogantly about ‘discovering the secrets ‘ of this and , ‘I’ve worked this secret out’ , but frankly , I claim I absolutely near nothing about cooking , but even I know air creates larger ice crystals in an ice cream. And I suspect you don’t know what gelato is nor why it forms fewer ice crystals over an ‘ice cream’.
  For home cooking with no ice maker, a gelato milk base recipie is the route to use. I know this, and I say I know little count cooking, so what’s going on with cookery classes and courses if you don’t?!

• how much sugar to use and does it come out creamy

  • It definitely comes out creamy… but you need lots of sugar Yvonne :)

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