How does cold, velvety homemade ice cream sound? (www.JasonCoblentz.com)

It’s fun to be a little decadent now and then, right? So, how does cold, velvety vanilla ice cream sound? How about indulgent chocolate ice cream? Perhaps sweet peach ice cream with raspberry swirl, or creamy espresso with chocolate pieces that melt in your mouth? Sound good?

Well, you’re in luck, because this ice cream is easily made at home, with very few ingredients, and without an ice cream maker. And this base recipe has six delicious variations.

If you’re limiting your sugar and fat intake, you may wish to avert your eyes. This treat is not meant to be consumed every day, but boy can it make any day a special occasion. When you combine sweetened condensed milk with whipped cream, something magical happens.

We’re starting with a base of vanilla ice cream into which you’ll incorporate additional ingredients as desired to create the variations below.

The measurements are flexible. Use this as a place to begin, adjusting the recipe until it speaks or sings to your taste buds.

EASY ICE CREAM

Yield: 8 (4 ounce) servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Freeze Time: 6 hours

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon table salt

In a blender, whip the cream to a soft peak stage then scrape the sides of the blender jar and continue to blend until stiff peaks form.

Using a spatula, gradually fold in the sweetened condensed milk, adding the vanilla and salt, and gently combine.

Give it one more whirl in the blender (it’ll be rather stiff at this point), scraping the sides as needed.

Pour the mixture into a loaf pan (8 1/2 by 4 1/2) or a cake pan (8 by 8 inch) and freeze for 6 hours or overnight. To store, freeze, covered, up to one week. Voila!

If you don’t have a blender, you can use a stand mixer or hand mixer. I find using a blender whips less air into the mixture, resulting in creamier ice cream.

Using this as a beautiful blank canvas, the variations are limited only by your imagination. Some ingredients are better added when you’re blending the cream and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Others you’ll add when the ice cream is partially frozen, after 2-3 hours in the freezer, for even distribution.

Variations:

Milk Chocolate — Decrease vanilla to 1 teaspoon and add 6 ounces melted milk chocolate chips to the room temperature cream mixture.

Espresso — When blending the base, add 2-3 tablespoons espresso powder, depending on how strong you want your coffee flavor. When partially frozen, stir in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.

S’mores — To semi-frozen ice cream, mix in 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup mini marshmallows, 1/2 cup graham cracker pieces.

Key Lime Pie — Omit the vanilla and add 1/2 cup frozen limeade concentrate with the condensed milk. When semi-frozen, stir in 1/2 cup broken graham cracker pieces.

Peanut Butter Cup — Add 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter to the cream mixture and add 1/2 cup roughly chopped peanut butter cup candies before freezing.

Peach Melba — Using one (15.25 ounce) can of peaches, drain and reserve the juice for another purpose. Puree about 1 cup of the peaches to blend with the cream mixture. Chop the remaining peaches to add when semi-frozen. When you add the chopped peaches, top the ice cream with 1/2 cup raspberry jam (or fresh raspberries!) and use a knife to swirl the jam into the iced cream.

You needn’t wait for a special occasion to make this, because the best time for ice cream is always. Plus, ice cream is way cheaper than therapy.

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Lifestyle expert Patti Diamond is the penny-pinching, party-planning, recipe developer and content creator of the website ‘Divas On A Dime — Where Frugal, Meets Fabulous!’ Visit Patti at www.divasonadime.com and join the conversation on Facebook at DivasOnADimeDotCom. Email Patti at divapatti@divasonadime.com

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