A Few Tasty Homemade Ice Cream Recipes

For my birthday one of things I wanted to do was have a few friends over for some homemade ice cream. I have the most awesome ice cream maker-- a bowl attachment for my KitchenAid mixer! My sweet hubby bought me this tool for Christmas a couple of years ago and I recently got super amped on using it.

I made three recipes, all adapted from the Martha Stewart Original Classics cookbook for our little shindig. The only trouble with making multiple batches is that the bowl has to be frozen ahead of time (I keep mine in the freezer at all times), thawed before washing, and then refrozen for 15 hours before using again, so it does take some planning.

Martha's recipes all conclude with "freeze in a plastic container up to 1 week," but seriously these are so good, they probably won't last that long, and I imagine they actually would stay fine for longer if necessary.

I love making homemade ice cream! You can definitely look forward to more ice cream recipes here from me. I'm hoping to experiment with some made with natural sweeteners too if that's possible.

Here are the choices we enjoyed and boy, were they delicious...

Lime Frozen Yogurt

{makes 1.5 quarts}

1 quart plain low-fat yogurt 3/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 5 large limes- mine were homegrown and very juicy so it only took about 3) 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup light corn syrup 1 teaspoon grated lime zest 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place yogurt in a fine sieve or cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a medium bowl; chill for about 1 hour, until 1 to 1 1/3 cups liquid has drained from the yogurt. Discard liquid; set yogurt aside. 2. In a bowl, combine lime juice, sugar, corn syrup, lime zest, and vanilla; whisk until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Add strained yogurt; whisk to combine. Transfer to an ice-cream maker; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Rich Lemon Ice Cream

{makes 1 quart}

2 large eggs 4 large egg yolks 1 1/4 cups sugar 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (Martha says 5, took me 4 juicy ones) 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 1 1/4 cups heavy cream 1 cup milk (I used whole)

1. Prepare an ice-water bath (a big bowl of ice and water). In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest. 2. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly until the mixture coats the back of the spoon, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in the cream and milk. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve or cheescloth-lined strainer into a clean bowl set over the ice-water bath to chill. 3. Transfer the chilled mixture to an ice-cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Blood Orange Gelato

{makes 1 quart}

2 cups milk (I used whole) zest of 1 blood orange 1 cup blood orange juice (about 5 blood oranges) 5 large egg yolks 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup heavy cream

1. In a medium saucepan, heat milk and orange zest. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, and remove from heat. Steep for 30 minutes (with lid on). 2. In a small saucepan, cook juice over medium-low heat until reduced by three-quarters, 30-40 minutes. Allow syrup to cool completely (I put it in the fridge for a bit). 3. Combine egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat at medium-high speed until very thick and pale yellow, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, return the milk and orange zest mixture to a simmer. 4. Prepare an ice-water bath. Whisking constantly, add half the milk to egg-yolk mixture. Stir into remaining milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. 5. Remove from heat and immediately stir in cream. Pass mixture through a fine sieve into a medium bowl set over the ice bath to chill. Stir in orange syrup, then freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.