Tuesday, July 22, 2025

How to Make Easy NO-CHURN VANILLA ICE CREAM (No Machine Needed) from Cleo Coyle

 


From Cleo CoyleWhile many no-churn (no machine) ice cream recipes exist online, they are not all equal. A number of years ago, I experimented with the most common no-churn recipe and tweaked it into a final version that delivered excellent results. Today I'm sharing those results with you.

Below you'll find the two ways I make my no-churn vanilla. One is an insanely easy method using vanilla extract, and the other is an even more outstanding version using vanilla beans.

With the sizzling summer days upon us and tomorrow "National Vanilla Ice Cream Day," it's the perfect time to whip up some cold, creamy, amazingly delicious homemade ice cream...


So, let's get started!










Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery
 series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.


🍦 A Note from Cleo

So, what is the culinary strategy behind no-churn ice cream? Well, freezing straight cream gets you a block as hard as ice. Churning that cream as it freezes introduces air, which keeps the ice crystals small and creates that soft, fluffy texture that we enjoy.

No-churn ice cream replaces the churning of air into the cream with whipping the air into the cream before freezing. This does a good job of keeping the end product as soft and fluffy as churned ice cream. 

A number of years ago, I tried out the most common no-churn recipe at that time (sweetened condensed milk + cream whipped into stiff peaks), which was found on the Eagle Brand Condensed Milk can. For my taste, it produced an ice cream that was too soft, melted too easily, and left a waxy aftertaste on my tongue from too much butterfat. In short, it produces a product like ice cream but not as good.

What to do? I began experimenting and came up with an improved version (IMO, of course). 

Why was it better? A few reasons...

(1) Adding evaporated milk to the mix before freezing created a final product that had a much cleaner, more ice-cream-like texture, eliminating that waxy butterfat coating on the tongue.

(2) It allowed very fine ice crystals to form, which made the final product colder in the mouth and gave it a more stable form in the dish and on my cone.

(3) By only whipping the cream until it was thickened, rather than until it formed "stiff peaks" (as the original recipe required), the final product turned out denser and more like a churned ice cream or gelato.

My tweaked version of the popular recipe
 yielded creamy, smooth, delicious results, and today I'm re-sharing two options for making it: (1) a simple method using vanilla extract and (2) an even more outstanding version, one that uses vanilla beans.

🍦 To jump to my separate post now on how to make No-Churn Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, which includes great tips on how to work with vanilla beans, click here





🍦 Cleo Coyle's Easy
No-Churn (No-Machine)
Vanilla Ice Cream 

This recipe uses pure vanilla extract.
For my 
"vanilla bean" version, click here.

Makes a little over 1 quart, about 5 cups 

2 cups Heavy Cream (aka Heavy Whipping Cream)
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk (about 1-1/4 cups)
2/3 cup evaporated milk (or one 5-ounce can)
2-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract*
2 pinches of table salt (or finely ground sea salt)

*Note: For the best flavor when making this recipe, be sure to use pure vanilla extract and not "imitation" vanilla.

Directions: In a chilled metal, glass, or ceramic bowl, beat heavy cream with an electric mixer until thickened. 
(Do not create whipped cream, simply beat it until it resembles thickened white gravy, as in my photo below.) 




Add the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, pure vanilla extract, and salt. With the mixer on low, blend the mixture well until smooth. 

Pour the blended mixture into a 9 x 5 metal loaf pan. Why? Because a metal pan will conduct the cold better than a plastic container. Do not fill the pan to the very top. Here’s why. You'll need to stretch a sheet of plastic wrap across the top of the pan, keeping the plastic from touching the ice cream itself. 



Place the pan in the freezer for 8 to 12 hours. By then, the entire pan should be ready to... Scoop, serve and enjoy! 

To store: transfer the ice cream into a re-sealable plastic container or continue to re-wrap the metal pan in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn.






🍦

Click here or on the photo below to get 
my recipe for No-Churn Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
with tips on how to work with vanilla beans...


While vanilla extract may be convenient, vanilla beans truly bring recipes to another level, and this one is no exception. It's outstanding. 

If you've never worked with vanilla beans, no worries! My recipe includes tips (and photos) showing you how to work with them, and I link to places online where you can buy them fresh and have them delivered right to your door.

Click here or on the photo above to get my
recipe for No-Churn Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.


☕ Serve with 
Cleo's Cold Brew!

👇


Eat (and read) with joy!


CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the long-running Coffeehouse Mysteries, now celebrating more than twenty years in print. With more than 1 million books sold, they have gained an enthusiastic following. Cleo's "relentlessly entertaining" (Criminal Element) novels have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, and Czech; earned starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus; received Best of Year selection honors from multiple reviewers; and have been recommended by Booklist as among the best culinary mysteries for core library mystery collections. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, Toho, and MGM. They live in New York City, where they write independently and together, including the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries.


Visit Cleo's online coffeehouse here.

Follow Cleo at: Facebook | Twitter | Bluesky 

National Mystery Bestseller 

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"EASILY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS THAT I HAVE READ THIS YEAR...10 STARS!"  Escape with Dollycas into a Good Book 

 

"A KNOCKOUT STORY....one of the best books in this endearing series...a TERRIFIC READ..." —Dru Ann Love, Raven Award-winning reviewer, Dru's Book Musings






No Roast for the Weary is also a culinary mystery with a killer menu of delicious recipes. Click here or on the image below to see the free illustrated guide to our book's recipe section...

Click here or the image above for
Cleo's Free Illustrated Guide to
the recipes you'll find published in
 No Roast for the Weary.



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2 comments:

  1. I wanted to tell you that No Roast for the Weary kept me up late over the weekend. I could not put it down. I'm so weary now, LOL Keep those Coffeehouse mysteries coming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for this wonderful post. It's been hot summer, and this looks like a fun project to share with my daughter and grand kids. She introduced me to your Coffeehouse series a few years ago and now we read them together. Last Halloween we read The Ghost Goes to the Dogs, and loved it, too. Can't wait to see what's next.

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