2 Ingredient Ice Cream (No Churner Required)
If you’re like me and are an absolute sucker for ice cream and believe no dessert is complete without a cheeky scoop, I strongly recommend trying your hand at making some at home. If you’ve always wanted to but can’t justify splurging out a few hundred on an ice cream machine, you’re in luck! Or maybe you’re like me again and have an ice cream maker, but sometimes can’t be bothered going through the whole process of making the anglaise… then again, this one’s for you!
Table of Contents
This recipe is insanely easy to make and only requires 2 ingredients:
Cream
Thickened cream is the best option and the type I use. I find that the thickeners in it give it a bit more stability and resistance when folding through the condensed milk, meaning you get a softer, more aerated ice cream. However, any cream with a fat content around 30-40% will do the trick and these include options like pouring cream or whipping cream.
Sweetened condensed milk
Condensed milk is used first of all to give the ice cream sweetness (obviously), and then for a few other science-y reasons which you might or might not be interested in. For starters, the high sugar content reduces the freezing point of the ice cream meaning it’s more soft and scoopable straight from the freezer. The other job it does is absorb some of the liquids in the mix and boosts the ratio of non-fat solids in the ice cream due to it’s high proportion of milk solids. This prevents the risk of large ice crystals forming and making sure the end result is silky smooth and buttery.
Does 2 ingredient ice cream taste like regular ice cream?
Not entirely, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t delicious! It’s almost like comparing white chocolate to dark chocolate… They’re similar, but also completely different, but nonetheless both are so good in their own way! I find that it is a lot richer and creamier than traditional ice cream and has a distinct condensed milk flavour which I love.
How does this ice cream work?
Traditional ice cream is a bit of a science and requires you to strike the perfect balance between fat, sugar, liquid and non-fat solids, while also making sure it’s the right thickness, hasn’t been heated too much etc, etc. First, you have to make a creme anglaise (a fancy word for an egg-based custard), heat it until the yolks thicken the mixture, cool it, then churn it. While it’s churning, air gets whipped into the mixture and trapped between small, broken up ice crystals and fat globules. The more air that is incorporated, the lighter and more scoopable the ice cream will be… But also the more quickly it will melt at room temperature.
No churn ice cream takes a shortcut on this by incorporating air into the mixture before it’s frozen, rather than during. Think of the condensed milk taking the place of the ice cream base or custard, and the whipped cream as the ice cream machine in that it gives the mixture air to produce a light, silky and scoopable texture.
So sometimes it’s nice to just make something that its pretty much guaranteed to turn out perfectly no matter how hard you try to ruin it (don’t actually attempt that though).
Can I make This Recipe in an Ice Cream Churner?
Yes, you can actually! I’ve tried it both ways and they’re both delicious. The ice cream churner approach produces a slight denser, more luxurious ice cream. So if you have one, try it out!
Storage Instructions
Like any ice cream, 2 ingredient ice cream is best stored in a freezer-safe and airtight container. It’s a good idea to make sure the ice cream fills the container as much as possible to prevent the amount of air that can circulate.
How long will it keep in the freezer?
This ice cream will keep nicely in the freezer for 2-4 months. Although it will still be safe to eat after this time, the quality of the ice cream wont be as good. Over time, the ice cream can go grainy and icy and take on a strange flavour. This is due to temperature fluctuations in the freezer which cause the ice cream to dry out and the air bubbles to shrink (which you don’t want).
Scaling The Recipe
This recipe is incredibly easy to scale and can be increased or decreased however you need (you could even make a tablespoon worth if you wanted). Because you’re not dealing with any whole ingredients like eggs, you can make as much or as little as you like.
Variations
Can I Make This Low Fat?
Although making this low fat by no means makes it healthy, you can reduce the calories slightly if you would like. I have made this recipe before with low fat thickened cream (18% fat compared to 35% fat) and to be honest, i hardly noticed the difference. Light cream is a LOT harder to whip than full fat and you wont quite get the same firm peaks so be prepared to put in a lot more elbow grease.
Can I Make it Without Sugar?
This is one thing you can’t really do. The sugar is really important to the texture of the ice cream and without it, it wouldn’t be as smooth and soft. What’s more is that I don’t even think sugar free condensed milk exists, so that’s a minor hurdle as well.
Things To Avoid
Don’t Overwhip Your Cream
When you whip cream, you force apart the protective barrier that separates the fat and water molecules while also beating air into the mixture (fat and water repel each other like in a salad dressing). When the barrier breaks, the fat molecules attach themselves around oxygen molecules and form a network, otherwise called an air pocket. These fat globule-surrounded bubbles of air are a relatively solid structure and are what we call whipped cream. The more you beat, the more you encourage the fat molecules to attach to each other, rather than to oxygen molecules, breaking the light and fluffy structure and instead forming butter.
It’s important to know when to stop whipping your cream, if not you’ll have a dense and fatty ice cream. Make sure you whip it to just before stiff peaks form, because you will need to mix it again when you add the condensed milk and the last thing you want is for it to split.
The cream should just hold it’s shape when lifted on the whisk.
Avoid Water as Much as Possible
If you’re planning on adding different flavourings or mix ins, make sure they are a concentrated and water-free as possible. If you add something watery like pureed fruit, juice or alcohol, the resulting ice cream will be icy, dense and not smooth. If you want to add fruit, try using a small amount of jam instead or cook down your fruit a little bit to evaporate some of the water before adding it in. If you’re using alcohol, do the same thing or use something concentrated like a spirit or fortified wine, rather than something like wine.
2 Ingredient No-Churn Ice cream
If you're like me and are an absolute sucker for ice cream and believe no dessert is complete without a scoop, I strongly recommend trying your hand at making some at home. This recipe is so incredibly easy to make and doesn't even require an ice cream maker!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Thickened Cream
- ½ cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
Instructions
- Whip your cream to soft peaks using a whisk or electric beater.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the whipped cream and stir gently until just combined.
- Add any mix ins you like at this stage.
- Pour this mixture into an air tight, freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 6 hours.
Notes
- Feel free to add any mix-ins or flavourings you like after combining the condensed milk and cream.
- Try biscuits, chocolate chips, brownies, a swirl of peanut butter, sprinkles or whatever else you’d like to try!
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Hey! I’m Montana...
Mon Mack Food is my little space to share my passion for food. It is also a place to document the recipes I’ve created while cooking for friends and family! While it is now just a hobby, my absolute dream is to build this project into something I can one day call my job 🙂
