Homemade Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Freezer (Two Flavors, One Simple Base)

From Mary Katherine

Do you remember those hot summer days when the whole family would gather around and make homemade ice cream in that old-fashioned crank freezer? You cranked it by hand, and everybody took a turn — usually until your arm gave out and you handed it off to somebody else. Then things got a little more advanced and maybe you had an electric ice cream freezer. And now they have some really fancy ones that sit right on your kitchen counter.

We’re not going to use any of those today.

I want to show you something that tastes like it took all that trouble, but didn’t. This ice cream is homemade, it’s delicious, and anybody can make it without all that special equipment. That’s the whole point. Because if making ice cream means dragging out a freezer, hunting for the rock salt, and finding somebody willing to crank it — well, most of us just don’t do it. And then summer goes by and you never made any.

So we’re doing it the simple way. We whip some heavy cream, we stir in cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk, we fold in pureed fruit and some crushed graham crackers, and we pour it in a loaf pan. That’s it. Two hours later you’ve got ice cream.

Now I’ll be honest with you — the hardest part of this whole recipe is washing and cutting up the fruit. My husband was standing right there when we tasted it and I asked him what he thought the hardest part was, and he said staying up late. He didn’t lift a finger. So you can imagine how hard it isn’t.

His favorite is peach. Mine is strawberry. We made both, and I’m not going to tell you which one won, because I think you ought to make them both and decide for yourself.

Homemade Cheesecake Ice Cream — Two Flavors

Prep time: 20 minutes Freeze time: 2 hours Total time: 2 hours 20 minutes Servings: 8 per flavor Special equipment: none — a hand mixer is plenty

This ingredient list makes ONE flavor. To make both strawberry and peach like we did, make the recipe twice — once with each fruit. Everything else stays exactly the same.

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (one block)
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk (one can)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled — or 2 cups fresh peaches, peeled
• ½ cup crushed graham crackers (about 3 whole crackers), plus extra for topping

Instructions

1. Crush your graham crackers. Put them in a gallon zip-top bag, break them up with your hands a little, then spread them out flat and run a rolling pin over the bag until they’re fairly fine. A few bigger pieces are fine — that’s not going to hurt anything. Here’s a handy number to remember: five whole graham crackers gives you about one cup crushed. You only need half a cup per batch, so crush a little extra and save it to sprinkle on top of the bowls.
2. Get your fruit ready. Wash it, hull the strawberries or peel the peaches, and cut it into rough chunks — no need to go small, it’s headed for the blender anyway. Measure your two cups first, then puree. That order matters. I use the pulse button so I can keep an eye on it. A food processor works, and if you don’t have either one, a potato masher will do it. You just want really fine bits of fruit.
3. Chill your bowl, then whip the cream. I stick my mixing bowl in the freezer for a few minutes before I start — a cold bowl whips cream faster. Pour in the 2 cups of heavy cream and whip until you’ve got good peaks. I use the regular paddle attachment rather than the whisk, not because the whisk won’t do it, but because everything else is about to go in this same bowl and I want the paddle on there for the cream cheese and the fruit.
4. Add the cream cheese, condensed milk, and vanilla. Your cream cheese needs to be room temperature — this is the one place this recipe can go sideways. Add the whole 8 oz block, the entire can of sweetened condensed milk, and the teaspoon of vanilla. That condensed milk is where all your sweetness comes from; we never add a bit of sugar to this recipe.
5. Pour in the fruit and mix until smooth. Start your mixer low so it doesn’t splash out on you, then bring it up. Scrape down the sides. Watch for cream cheese hiding on the beater — I had a chunk stuck to mine and had to run it a little longer. That’s the only thing you’re looking for here: cream cheese fully incorporated, smooth and creamy throughout. You’ll still see flecks of fruit, and that’s exactly what you want.
6. Fold in the graham crackers. Add your ½ cup and gently stir it through — you don’t have to be precious about folding, but don’t beat it either, because the mixture is light and airy and you want to keep it that way. This is what’s going to mimic that graham cracker crust you get with a cheesecake.
7. Pour it in a loaf pan and freeze for 2 hours. Leave it uncovered for this first freeze. Once you’re storing leftovers, then you’ll want to cover it. A loaf pan sets faster than a deep bowl, so if you use something taller, give it a little longer.
8. Scoop, top with extra graham crackers, and eat it. That’s the whole thing.

Questions You Might Have

Do I really not need an ice cream maker? You really don’t. Whipping the heavy cream is what gets air into this — that’s the job an ice cream machine’s churning normally does. Because the base is already light and airy when it goes in the freezer, it doesn’t freeze into a solid brick the way a plain custard would.

Can I use frozen fruit instead of fresh? Yes. Thaw it and drain off the extra liquid first, then measure your two cups and puree. Frozen peaches are honestly a great shortcut, and frozen strawberries work fine too.

Do peaches have to be peeled? Yes — peel them. Strawberries just need hulling, but peach skin doesn’t break down in the blender and you’ll end up with little bits of it through the ice cream.

My cream cheese left lumps. What went wrong? It was too cold. Set the block out on the counter until it’s genuinely room temperature — not just “out of the fridge a minute ago.” If you’ve already got lumps, run the mixer longer and scrape the beater; it will usually come together.

Can I use a different fruit? Absolutely. Two cups of pureed fruit is the measurement — blackberries, blueberries, mango, whatever you’ve got. The base doesn’t care.

How long does it keep? Cover it well and it’ll keep in the freezer for about two weeks. After that it starts picking up freezer taste. It’s rarely a problem at our house.

Can I make it without a stand mixer? Yes. A hand mixer does all of this just fine. You can even whisk it by hand — it takes a good bit longer, but you don’t have to have a fancy stand mixer for this.

Why is there no sugar in the recipe? There’s plenty in the sweetened condensed milk, plus what comes from the fruit. That’s the whole reason this works with so few ingredients.