It's Cold...Let's Have Ice Cream!

You're never going to believe this recipe. It's two simple ingredients most people have in their homes at any given time, especially with the holidays coming up. What makes it even better is how insanely easy it is to customize it to your own tastes.

I'm not crazy. Not like stalker/slasher/scary crazy. But I love ice cream when it's cold outside. I really love ice cream that doesn't require me to babysit an ice cream machine. I'm even more enamored with an ice cream that is so ridiculously easy that there really are no excuses to not make it. You can have several different flavors of ice cream hanging out in your freezer right now just waiting for any unannounced guests stopping by for dinner. You could have one huge batch of your favorite flavor stashed away for those midnight cravings that hit when the insomnia is kicking in and all those infomercials are showing all the tasty things you can cook in those tiny little ovens.

I found this recipe via Pinterest forever ago (and if you've never heard of Pinterest, it's time you go and find your new addiction). I have no idea where the recipe originated or who to give the proper credit to, but there seem to be so many variations on this one that I'm not going to any more time trying to find the original one (if you do know who came up with it, please link to them in the comments and I'll be glad to give credit where credit is due). I've made so many variations of this simple recipe: Nutella with chocolate chips, cookies n' cream, chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, straight up vanilla. I'm giving you the base recipe as well as the variations I've already tried (this weekend, I'll be experimenting with a flavor that's been stuck in my head for a few months now).

Two Ingredient Ice Cream Base

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 can (12 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1. Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks. Fold in the sweetened condensed milk. Place a freezer-safe bowl with a lid and freeze until solid. Enjoy

Nutella with Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Nutella (or to taste; feel free to try peanut butter, almond butter, or any other kind of spread with a similar consistency)
1 Tbl butter, melted
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (this is just a rough guess; use more or less depending on taste).

1. Add Nutella and butter to the sweetened condensed milk. Fold into the whipped cream. Add chocolate chips. Follow above directions on freezing.

Cookies n ' Cream
7-10 Oreo cookies, crushed (give or take based on your preference)

1. Fold the crushed cookies into the whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Follow above directions on freezing.

Chocolate Chip/Mint Chocolate Chip
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp mint extract

1. Fold the mini chocolate chips and mint extract, if using, into the whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Follow above directions on freezing.

MMMM, Ice Cream

I know, I know. It's been almost a week since my last post. I've got a really good excuse though. Ok, I don't really. It was just a crazy week, and this one is gearing up to be another crazy one too. I wasn't able to participate in the Daring Cooks or You Want Pies with That for June because it's just been so busy around here. All the birthdays and whatnot going on...

Anyway. Today I want to share this fun little recipe for ice cream that I found over at Delicious Delicious Delicious (and yes, all three of those deliciouses were necessary after you've had his ice cream). This one is super simple and is perfect for those with limited space since you don't use an ice cream maker to make it. There's also no cooking of a custard base so you won't be heating up your small kitchen in your tiny apartment in the middle of a nasty, humid heatwave. Oh sorry, got caught up there for a second.

As I was saying, this Mascarpone Ice Cream in simple. It only calls for 4 ingredients, but you can change the taste of it just by changing the liquor or extract you use. The original calls for Bailey's, which was really good, but I've made a tiramisu flavor with half coffee liquor and half chocolate liquor (there is even a ladyfinger cookie at the bottom and some dark chocolate chips mixed into mine). You could use vanilla or almond extract, even a mint extract would be lovely. Perhaps a spiced rum with a little vanilla as well. The possibilities are truly only limited by what you have on hand.

Tiramisu Mascarpone Ice Cream
Recipe by Delicious Delicious Delicious, adapted by me

250g mascarpone (I just use the small carton made by BelGioso, but I cheated this time and used their tiramisu flavor)
2 egg yolks
80g icing sugar (that's about 1/3 cup)
3 tbsp Bailey's (or amaretto, or use 1 tsp vanilla) (I used half chocolate and half coffee liquer)
Ladyfingers
Dark chocolate chips

1. Mix everything together in a bowl using a wooden spoon. This takes about two minutes.
2. Spoon into serving dishes, cupcake liners or lolly moulds, and freeze.
3. Let ripen in the fridge for half an hour before serving.