Easy homemade vanilla ice cream

Easy homemade vanilla ice cream really is very easy with an electric freezer. I am done with the hand-cranked types because it takes so long and they tend to break.

Personally I prefer to make a basic ice cream and then add my flavouring afterwards; making a hot chocolate sauce is a lot simpler than trying to incorporate it in the custard; or our specialty cape gooseberry and mulberry jams.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 8th February, 2023.

Much as I love ice cream, I am averse to all the chemicals that are added to the commercial varieties; stabilizers, preservatives and emulsifiers.

• What is stabiliser in food?
  

Okay, I will admit that I am neurotic about all these chemicals that are added to our bought foods; much as they have been passed by the FDA, I am convinced they play a large role in the loss of vitality and well-being experienced by so many these days.

I do not like pain and I try to avoid doctors, so we prepare our own slow foods, made fast.

I will not pretend that ice-cream is a health food, but what for me is important is the overall context of the meal.

If all you are having for dinner is a couple of slices of toasted cheese sandwiches made from white bread and ice cream then it is certainly awful; with a very high glycemic index and not a great deal of nutrients.

But if you have your ice cream after Bernie's beetroot soup and a slice of 100 percent wholemeal bread, then you have a scrumptious meal.

We all need to let our hair down occasionally; the health nut neurosis associated with food is often worse than the junk meal itself. But I am not advocating our easy homemade vanilla ice cream every day.

In order to make a nice smooth ice cream that does not separate, we like to make a custard first; then add the beaten cream and vanilla and you have a winner.

I confess I have not yet got to the real vanilla beans; it is on the bucket list. I will admit the seeds we use are processed; so many compromises.

The basic ingredients are as follows.

1. 1 cup of full cream milk.
2. 2 TBSP cornflour.
3. 1/3 cup of sugar.
4. 1 egg.
5. 1 tsp vanilla essence.
6. 1 cup of cream.

We have now managed to get the vanilla seeds, but not in pods; that is definitely a step in the right direction.

Easy homemade vanilla ice cream

Easy homemade vanilla ice cream gives you control of the deleterious chemicals and sugar added to commercial frozen puddings.

First make the custard, allow it to cool, and freeze it overnight; a little aforethought is indeed necessary. Actually there is no reason not to make a double recipe and keep one half permanently on hand.

Fold the chilled, beaten custard into the whipped cream, and pour it slowly into the portable freezer; it is really very simple, and now for the small print.

1. First, scald one cup of milk.
2. Then mix 2 TBSP of cornflour with the sugar, a pinch of salt with a little water.
3. Stir it slowly into the hot milk on low heat until the mixture is thick.
4. Beat an egg and stir it gradually into the hot mixture, still on low heat, for a few moments until it is smooth.
5. Cool, add one teaspoon of vanilla essence and then put the pot into the freezer for a couple hours at least.
6. Whip one cup of chilled cream until it is nice and thick.
7. Beat up the frozen custard until it's nice and smooth.
8. Fold the beaten custard into the whipped cream; do not beat it again.
   
9. Slowly pour the mixture into your portable ice cream freezer whilst it is turning. Add it too fast and the blade will jam.
10. In about 20 to 30 minutes you will have your easy homemade vanilla ice cream; what could be simpler?

We have a gathering of the clans today, so we will be making hot chocolate-sauce; it's equally simple and keeps for weeks in the fridge. I will build a separate blog for that.

Make sure the kids enjoy some salads before they are allowed to tuck into the ice cream. Culinary habits are learned early and, if you allow them to cheat at this age, then they are well on the way to obesity and diabetes; and you are culpable.

I wonder how long it will be before children start suing their aging parents for allowing and abetting their poor dietary habits that led to their many diseases?

Actually a couple of celebrated cases would do the world a lot of good; we are responsible for a lot more than seeing our children get through school. Setting them on the path to a healthy lifestyle is equally important.

Interesting new research indicates that high levels of Firmicutes in the intestines of children predestines them to a life of obesity^[2]. Too much sugar in the diet blocks the growth of another friendly bacterium, Bacteroidetes, upsetting the apple-cart.

In fact everything is connected; there is so much research coming out that without adequate omega-3 fats and folate, for example, children will not perform nearly as well in school.

I am done with lecturing. Enjoy the easy homemade vanilla ice cream, and do not succumb to health food neurosis.

How many grams of carbohydrate are in ice cream?

1 cup milk = 12g

2 TBSP cornflour = 18.5g

1/3 cup sugar (16tsp) = 80g

1 egg = 0

1 cup cream = 0.35 x 16 = 5.6g

Total = 116 grams of carbohydrate

Per 7 servings = 17g each

Obviously that is quite a lot of carbohydrate; roughly 17g per serving in our easy homemade vanilla ice cream.

A commercial ice-cream incidentally would have a lot more carbohydrate because we have halved the sugar.

If you are seriously overweight, then obviously you need to avoid this recipe completely; 20 grams of carb is your total for the day.

If you are on a moderate Banting diet which requires less than 50g of carbohydrate per day, then a tablespoon or two is enough. And take a walk after dinner.

There is quite a lot of refined starch in this recipe; it is fattening. Its chief virtue is plenty of cream; and none of the chemicals you find in most commercial varieties. As an occasional indulgence it is probably fine.

Each helping contains about 3 tsp of sugar, not including chocolate-sauce or other toppings; the Heart Association recommends no more than six per day in total. Our goal is less than three.

Just like we all have a scale and blood pressure kit, it is a good idea to purchase your own glucometer if you suspect you may be insulin resistant; then you will know to what heights your blood glucose soars. They are not expensive; pricking your own finger may be a challenge.

A CGM or Continuous Glucose Monitor is the goal today^[3]. Worn for just a month it's not outrageously expensive. You would get real time feedback on what this Easy Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream is doing to your blood sugar.

• Cape gooseberry jam recipe

These musings from the summer vegetable garden we think are profoundly important to our wellbeing; they are the reason we in our mid-seventies take absolutely no chronic medication. The include the Cape gooseberry, a perrenial source of unsprayed fruit.

Don't buy your food, grow as much of it as you can is our motto.

Banting

There are three levels of Banting; the low refined carbohydrate way of living that is the only successful manner in which to lose weight permanently. Because of the high fat you don't feel continuously famished. Satiety is the word, that sense of having eaten enough.

The three levels of carbohydrate are 20, 50 and 150g per day, the latter for healthy people who just want to stay that way.

Obviously our easy homemade vanilla ice cream is only allowed on the last one; less than 150g of carb per day.

• Ketogenic diets
  

Safety of cornstarch

Research has brought the safety of cornstarch into question; it is highly glycemic. With all the sugar in your ice cream, they make a less than nutritious combination. I am looking for alternatives as a thickener. Aquafaba, one of the byproducts of cooking chickpeas is one of the options we are considering.

Vanilla seeds

I have recently been cooking with vanilla seeds instead of the essence. It is a huge step up to better flavour.

• Fast healthy dinner recipes.
• Health nut neurosis
• Benefits of folate

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