"Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book"

You can satisfy a craving for homemade ice cream with many good cookbooks, including The Perfect Scoop and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. But none offer the near-instant gratification and sheer fun plus seriously good recipes of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

I declare my ice cream bona fides as a child consumer of N.C. State University’s ice cream—any kid who grows up on that can accurately judge a super scoop. According to the university, students began making ice cream as part of their dairy courses, and in 1973, an ice cream shop opened in the student union. I spent many happy days hanging out in my professor father’s spacious office at State when his childcare services were needed, and I think Dad was happy to have me as an excuse for getting a cone after I’d been well-behaved—either at the union or, by my preteen years, at a stand in D.H. Hill library. (I loved that library and its large section of magazines—not just scholarly ones, but the sorts I wanted to read. Think Seventeen and Cosmo, though I’m not sure now if those were actually there. When I had kids, I took them over once to have a blast trying out all the modernist chairs, including these…and getting ice cream.)

And often the only thing keeping me awake during classical “Friends of the College” concerts in Reynolds Coliseum was the promise of a post-concert scoop. (I still can’t sit still and awake—back then, often in a scratchy dress—through most piano concertos, but that concert series exposed me to some amazing performances I couldn’t sleep through, including my favorite, the Canadian Brass. I recall seeing Itzhak Perlman, Burl Ives, and a Chinese acrobat troupe.)

I got Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s book long ago, to accompany my Cuisinart ice cream maker and replicate my favorite flavor, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. My copy now looks splattered and bent, and my machine’s plastic top features a strip of tape following an unfortunate meeting with the kitchen floor. But the ice cream I produce remains, especially for the time and effort needed, deeply satisfying.

Unlike other recipes requiring cooked custards, as many as eight egg yolks, and involved mixtures of starch, cream cheese, and glycerin, Ben and Jerry rely on three supremely simple base recipes, two of which I regularly use.

Most often, I turn to one that requires beating two raw eggs with sugar, then whisking in cream and milk. When I can’t find pasteurized whole eggs for that mixture (they seem permanently discontinued), or when I’m making ice cream on a whim and need to use what I have on hand (and I always have cream on hand), I use their base of light cream and sweetened condensed milk.

No cooking, no chilling time, no leftover egg whites? I’ll scream for that ice cream.

Recipe notes:

To both bases, I’ve made a few adjustments in ingredients and instructions. I almost always add a tablespoon or two of alcohol to keep it a bit softer and easier to scoop. For the condensed milk version, I changed the proportions to use an entire can with a mixture of heavy cream and milk. For the egg version, I loved using pasteurized eggs in the shell to avoid any worry about raw eggs, but lacking those, I’ve turned to recently discovered cartons of pasteurized eggs at Whole Foods. And when I have very fresh, local eggs, I’m comfortable using raw eggs as long as I’m not serving anyone who might be at higher risk—but use your own judgment there.

For the coffee ice cream, I diverged from the book by adding Kahlua and using instant espresso powder. I try to use bagged Heath bar chocolate-covered toffee bits, but their availability is inconsistent at best. Trader Joe’s sells a packaged mix of toffee bars covered in milk chocolate and dark chocolate, and in a pinch I’ll chop some of those.

For a creamsicle-style ice cream, I previously followed Ben & Jerry’s recipe that used frozen orange juice concentrate, and it’s delicious with a hefty balancing dose of vanilla—but it borders on too sweet, and I don’t need the leftover concentrate. So I’ve started using the base recipe spiked simply with pure orange oil (not orange extract; I use this) and, if I’m not serving children, a tablespoon or two of orange liqueur. The orange oil gives it an edge of bitterness and a vaguely tannic mouthfeel, which seems to fade after a day in the freezer.

Once you’ve tried these, you can easily adapt the bases to other flavors. I love using 2 teaspoons peppermint extract plus either about a half cup of crushed Oreos or about 1/3 cup chocolate melted with a teaspoon of coconut oil, drizzled in very slowly as the ice cream finishes churning, for mint chip ice cream, my second-favorite flavor. You can infuse the cream overnight with herbs that you strain out, or try cherry pits—a favorite trick when I pit a lot of cherries for a pie—that you strain out the next day, then add finely chopped fresh or jarred cherries at the end of churning. (Gild the cherry blossom with those chocolate flecks from the mint version.)

Also, I think there’s no better ice cream scoop than this one.

Ice Cream Base #1, adapted from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

Makes 1 quart

2 large eggs, or the equivalent of pasteurized eggs

149 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar

454 grams (2 cups) heavy whipping cream

227 grams (1 cup) milk

In a medium bowl, preferably using a hand mixer at medium-high speed, beat or whisk the eggs and sugar together for 2 to 3 minutes, until thick, fluffy, and pale. On low speed or by hand, whisk in the cream and milk until thoroughly blended. To finish the ice cream, whisk in extracts, liqueur, other liquid flavorings, herbs, or spices, then freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. Just as ice cream gets very stiff, slowly churn in any chunky ingredients. Eat immediately as soft-serve, or transfer to a freezer container and freeze for several hours or until firm.

Ice Cream Base #2, adapted from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

Makes 1 quart

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 ½ cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together condensed milk, whole milk, and cream. To finish the ice cream, whisk in extracts, liqueur, other liquid flavorings, herbs, or spices, then freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. Just as ice cream gets very stiff, slowly churn in any chunky ingredients. Eat immediately as soft-serve, or transfer to a freezer container and freeze for several hours or until firm.

Coffee Heath Bar Ice Cream: Dissolve 15 grams (3 tablespoons; you may prefer to start with 2 tablespoons for a milder flavor) instant espresso powder in 1 to 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur (Kahlua or similar), stirring gently; whisk into ice cream base of choice. You may also choose to whisk in 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Churn the base, and when ice cream just gets very stiff, slowly churn in chocolate-covered toffee bits (see recipes notes above). I use about 160 grams toffee bits, but use however much you like (at least half a cup to start). Eat immediately as soft-serve, or transfer to freezer container and freeze for several hours or until firm.

Creamsicle Ice Cream: To the ice cream base of choice, whisk in 1 to 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (Grand Marnier or similar), ½ to ¾ teaspoon orange oil (taste to see if you prefer the stronger amount), and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Churn the base until very stiff; eat immediately as soft-serve, or transfer to freezer container and freeze for several hours or until firm.