I'm just going to slip on in here after not posting for the entirety of 2019, don't mind me. However, like a lot of us lately, I suddenly have infinitely more time on my hands! I am seeking reprieve and some sense of normalcy by diving into some lazy baking recipes, and I'd love to share this in case you need something easy and sweet too.
Let's get right to it. I don't have an ice cream machine, and I definitely don't have the funds to buy one right now. But I did have a myriad of dairy ingredients taking over my fridge at the dangerous brink of expiration. Also, fresh raspberries.
Apparently, the way to make ice cream without a machine involves sweetened condensed milk. This stuff has less water content, helpful with ice crystal nonsense. So while you won't get absolutely perfectly smooth and creamy ice cream, you will get something pretty darn close. Heads up, you will have to freeze this overnight to get any kind of form, but for me, that's a price worth paying (especially with all this extra time) if that means I don't have to buy a machine to make it.
So, what you're getting is a berry and cream sort of flavor with a bit of tang that is on the sweeter side (due to the condensed milk). Trust me, you don't need any other sweetener in this. And the only work you have to put into this is whipping it (done with a hand or stand mixer) and then wait forever for it to freeze. Easy-peasy, and quite delightful. I love the flavor of fresh raspberries and I'm happy to have this tucked away in my freezer, plus another can of sweetened condensed milk is on hand should I feel up to playing with more flavors!
I think we all deserve to have a little taste of summer in the comfort of our homes.
No-Churn Raspberry Buttermilk Ice Cream:
Yield: one quart
Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1⁄2 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup raspberries, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A couple generous pinches of salt
- Splash of liquor, such as unflavored vodka (optional, it will help keep it from freezing too hard but the vanilla also helps greatly with this. It's still a softer ice cream by nature).
In a small bowl, mash half of the raspberries up as much as possible. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to get out the seeds (unless you don't mind the texture, in which case don't bother straining). Roughly chop the other half of the raspberries and place in the fridge for later.
Combine cream and sweetened condensed milk in a large mixing bowl and whip on high speed with a hand mixer until soft peaks form (you can also use a stand mixer with a whip attachment for this). Don't be shy with this step, give it a good whipping! Add buttermilk and mix on low until well combined. Gently fold in the raspberry puree, salt, vanilla, and additional liquor (if using).
Pour mixture into a metal loaf pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in freezer for one hour.
Remove the pan, stir in remaining half cup of cut-up raspberries and really give the ice cream a good, thorough mixing to break up any ice crystals. Replace the plastic wrap. At this point, it's best to freeze the ice cream overnight (or at least for six hours). I gave mine one more optional thorough mixing right before I went to bed, just for good measure.
Scoop up and eat it! Store in the freezer, obviously.
Sources: adapted from The Dairy Alliance
