I had never made no churn ice cream before this Spring….can you believe it?! I finally tried it, and was blown away. Easy to whip up in less than 5 minutes (depending on what mix ins you choose), and shockingly creamy, this is such a fun and simple project for a warm day. Now I’ll always love my ice cream machine and dreamy custard bases, but truly appreciate having such a good option for doing without one!

I decided to cook up a simple blueberry sauce to swirl into the vanilla ice cream base, but you could simply swap in any kind of berry, or substitute it with caramel or chocolate sauce, chopped oreos, m&ms, and more! So easy to customize, so have fun with it!

no churn blueberry ice cream

recipe: Kelsey Siemens

ingredients

2 cups blueberries

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

juice from half a lemon

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature (optional)

2 cups whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

directions

to make the blueberry sauce

First use a blender to puree the blueberries with the lemon juice and zest until completely smooth. Place the berries and sugar into a small saucepan, and cook on medium heat, stirring often, until the sauce cooks down and thickens - about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

to make the ice cream base

Place the sweetened condensed milk and softened cream cheese into a medium bowl, mix until well blended, and set aside. In separate medium bowl, whip the whipping cream on high speed with a handmixer (or use a standmixer), until medium-stiff peaks form. Note: I prefer slightly underwhipping my cream - if you overwhip and move towards a butter texture, you’ll end up with a very strange mouthfeel from the fat in the cream changing texture!

Spoon half a cup of the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk, and use a spatula to gently fold in the whipped cream. This process helps lighten the consistency of the sweetened condensed milk, so it doesn’t deflate the whipped cream when you combine the two. Pour the sweetened condensed milk mixture into the remaining whipped cream, and carefully fold them together.

Add in the blueberry sauce using the same folding method. For a swirled look, only fold a couple times before gently pouring the mixture into an airtight container. For a perfectly blended colour, fold a few more times to distribute the sauce evenly before placing into the airtight container.

Freeze for several hours before serving.

tips:

Sub in any kind of berry sauce!

Skip the berry sauce and stir whatever your heart desires: caramel, chocolate, chopped oreo, candy bar chunks, nuts, etc.

Happy ice cream making!