Something about September triggers my I’m-totally-obsessed-with-autumn side. I started getting out my fall decorations this past week and put some of my favorite fall-ish meals on the menu with plans to share them with you. Then Saturday rolled around and as I sat in 97 (yes, ninety-flipping-seven) degree weather, sweating my rear off while watching my son’s football game I decided there was absolutely no way I was going home to cook soup. So we stopped at the store for ice cream ingredients instead. Oh autumn, I guess you’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.
You might remember our one ingredient ice cream which is a pretty good fake out. The difference here is that this is real ice cream. And it only requires this:
Okay so technically this too:
But I’m not counting that, because this is even great if you forget the vanilla. The best part about this ice cream is that you can make it with our without an ice cream maker! And, you can add any flavors or add-ins you like. (Check out our friend Amanda’s to-die-for flavor combos for this same recipe) I’m making good ol’ fashioned vanilla, and I’m going to show you the freezer method.
Just dump out your sweetened condensed milk into a mixing bowl
and add some vanilla
Now if you’re using an ice cream machine, all you do is stir in the cream or half and half and pop in the machine. If you aren’t using an ice cream maker, then you just need to whip the cream first.
Does this sound familiar? We’re basically doing the same thing as my Creamy Fruit Freeze.
Then just fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture. You don’t want to just dump it in and stir. To fold means to take a little bit at a time, and gently move your rubber spatula from the bottom of the bowl, around up to the top. This keeps the fluffy air in the cream as opposed to deflating it while stirring.
At this point you can add in anything you like: fresh fruit, crushed cookies, spices, extracts, etc. Or leave it plain jane like me. Not that I’m plain. My ice cream is. If we’re talking about me, then I’m more like marshmallow fudge ripple with peanut butter cups and sprinkles. With a side of bacon.
Just place your container in the freezer until the ice cream is firm; at least 6 hours. Then scoop ‘er up.
Experiment with different flavors- we love crushed oreos, mashed banana, fresh strawberry, cinnamon-graham cracker with apple pie filling, peanutbutter banana with chocolate chips, nutella, you can’t really go wrong here, folks!
Good ol’ fashioned caramel from a jar works just fine too 🙂
Two Ingredient Ice Cream {No Machine Required!}
- Total Time: 1-6 hours, depending on method
Description
This easy ice cream has only three ingredients and doesn’t require an ice cream maker. If you happen to have one, though, there are instructions included for that as well.
Ingredients
4 cups half and half or cream (*only 2 cups needed for non-machine version)
14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Ice Cream Machine: Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions and place in freezer after to set up if needed.
Freezer Method: Omit half and half. Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in large bowl. In a separate bowl, pour 2 cups heavy cream into bowl and whip until soft-medium peaks form. Slowly fold whipped cream into sweetened condensed milk mixture in 3 additions. Fold until well combined. Pour into container and freeze for at least 6 hours or until firm.
Add-ins may be added before freezing for both methods. Try fresh fruit, crushed cookies or candies, and different flavored extracts and spices.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Freeze Time: 1-6 hours
Questions & Reviews
I made this yesterday. I only had one cup of the heavy whipping cream, so I halved the recipe… then used the other half of the milk to make “magic cookie bars” (recipe on the can). I’m not too ashamed to say that they are DIVINE together. LOL.
Do you have a chocolate version? I love the vanilla!
I used this to make an icecream cake for my son’s birthday…it was soooo yummmy!
Made a batch and cannot wait until after dinner!
Just made the freezer version and added about a cup of mini chocolate chips (husband and daughter’s favorite). Can’t wait to try it out tonight!
so cool! i want to make this ice cream & i have no kids 😉 just a hungry college kid!
Sounds delicious!
Could you put Carmel or chocolate syrup in before you freeze it?
Because my family loves chocolate ice cream an I wanted to make it at home for them.
Thanks for posting this recipe!
Absolutely!
I just want you cute ladies to know how much I love this site! You have renewed my love for cooking! I have tried a few things and all have been exceptional! Thank you for taking time out of your day of being a hard working mother to make all us ladies look like amazing cooks! I love it! Thank you a million times over. I will be purchasing your cook book and calendar soon! Did I put enough exclamation points to let you know how I feel? LOL! I really mean it! Thank you!
Holy freaking cow. I had no idea you could make ice cream like this. No. Idea. Thank you so much for making my life a little better. 😀
CANNOT wait to make this over the weekend! made sure to pin this fab recipe on Pinterest too….y’all rock so hard with all of your amazing recipes! big hugs from a gal w/a happy tummy!
WHAT?? this looks AMAZING. Getting ready for fall RIGHT now!
I think I’m going to try it but thought I would ask first. Have you ever used the light or reduced fat version of the cream and half n half and condensed milk. I just wonder how it would turn out?
Never tried it tish! I’m sure the sweetened condensed milk would be just fine low fat, but the half and half I’m not sure about. Those sometimes do funny things in recipes. If you’re doing the freezer version, you definitely need to use regular whipping cream though, no question.
So if you make it the freezer way, you have to use the whipping cream, not half and half, right? Just making sure. I bought half and half last night before thoroughly reading the directions so I just want to double check.
Yep, that’s correct. You need to whip the cream first to incorporate air the way an ice cream maker does.
Could I modify the recipes you guys have posted for apple pie ice cream and/or cherry chocolate ice cream by using this as the base?
You definitely can Mary. It won’t be quite the same as those original recipes, but the flavor combos will still taste yummy.
I made the cinnamon bun ice cream, and the nutella peanut butter chip from teh blog you recommended! Really good! I think I might cut back on the butter next time, as it kind of left a film in my mouth! This recipe is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I made this last week with crushed oreos. SO GOOD! My husband agrees it’s even better than regular ice cream. Have you tried it with fat free sweetened condensed milk to cut down on the fat content? I’m wondering if it would work/taste as good.
No, I haven’t ever tried it. I figure if I’m using straight up cream, a few more calories and fat grams aren’t going to make a huge difference, haha
Ice cream looks yummy, but OMG – where did those cute spoons come from? My 2 year old would LOVE those!!!
My sister in law gave those to me for my birthday- aren’t they so cute?? Not sure where they’re from!
This ice cream sounds so good and creamy, (as well as fattening) Going to mix it up tonight for family tomorrow
I just tried a copycat recipe for a homemade frosty that calls for a quart of chocolate milk and a can of sweetened condensed milk mixed in your ice cream maker so kinda the same concept as this recipe. It was actually pretty good and my family devoured it. Especially good considering that years ago I tried a recipe for homemade frostys that called for spraying cooking spray in it as one of the ingredients. Um, yea….not so good. My husband and I were both burping cooking spray flavored burps for the next couple of days. Gross!!! ANYWAY, we will have to try this recipe because we love us some ice cream at our house–as long as it doesn’t involve cooking spray!
I hear you about the weather. I actually made a stew Monday. I just love soups and stews in the fall. But I needed a crockpot meal because of our schedule. So we get home from swimming lessons and have stew for dinner. My kids wondered about my sanity.
Delicious! We made it yesterday after lunch and ate it for dessert- Yummy! It is so creamy, very similar to store bought. We mixed crushed oreos into ours. Even my picky ice cream eaters in the family loved it. I may have to go running again today so I can eat some more later. This is definitely on our to make again list.
Made this for FHE. WOW. It was awesome. It will change my ice cream inhaling habit forever!
Here’s one of my favorite easy ice cream recipes. I hope you’ll try it!
STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
1 container (24 ounces) frozen sweetened strawberries, chopped into large (frozen) chunks
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ cups (12 ounces) heavy cream
Place frozen berries in a blender. Whisk sugar into cream. With blender running, slowly add cream-sugar mixture, stopping to stir 3 or 4 times, until ice cream is smooth with small bits of strawberries. Transfer to an ice-cream freezer and freeze until soft-serve consistency (maybe you could just skip this step, or add whipped cream at this point). Place in airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Garnish with fresh strawberries if desired.
haha I’m in Austin and ecstatic that we are finally under 100 degrees at a “lovely” 98. Now if only it would rain so my grass wouldn’t be so crunchy. So I’m kinda glad you’re not posting fall recipes, it would only make me sad. But I do have half a can of sweetened cond. milk needing a purpose and saving me from drinking it straight. thanks
I have some churning in the ice cream maker right now! We couldn’t decide between vanilla and chocolate so we went with making vanilla and busting out the chocolate sause to top it off. Thanks!
Wow… you might have just saved my freezer (and wallet) from my ice cream obsession. I have a habit of being like “I feel like triple fudge ripple” so then I go and buy it, have one serving, and it sits in the freezer… until a few months later when I suddenly have that craving again, and the ice cream’s gone all hard and gooey.
Doesn’t sound too bad, but when I have two completely different ice cream cravings each week… it gets bad. Bad enough that we have a separate freezer (half the size of the big one, but still…) just for frozen deserts.
oh…my….goodness….
Hi, I love this! Thought I would share my own extra easy ice creams, published in my weekly newspeper column. I make Hazelnut Chocolate using only equal parts Nutella and evaporated milk, and Creamy Coconut with equal parts CoCo Lopez (coconut cream) and evaporated milk. With all my faux ice creams, I whisk them well and then let them set overnight in the fridge, to prechill and to get extra smooth. Makes all the difference. I serve the Hazelnut Chocolate with toasted hazelnuts and corsely ground Himalayan pink salt.
OK….I love you guys!!