Basil infused no-churn ice cream

Grace Kerfoot|September 5, 2015|488 Views

If you’ve ever attempted to make ice cream yourself, you understand how daunting of a task it can be.

Tempering egg yolks is intimidating, using that salt-and-ice-cube-in-a-bag method is— let’s face it— doomed for disappointment and investing in an ice cream maker is simply not happening on a college budget.

Fortunately, the struggle for quick and satisfying homemade ice cream can now end, and it’s all thanks to the brilliant mind of Nigella Lawson.

No jokes, no fuss, Lawson’s no-churn ice cream requires only one step and a few hours of patience (in which time I would recommend making some cookies to sandwich a scoop of the finished product between).

Basil Infused No-Churn Ice Cream

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A taste of summer, basil no-churn ice cream Photo credit: Grace Kerfoot

Recipe inspired by Nigella Lawson’s No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream.

Adding basil takes only a small extra step and yields a sophisticated, high summer vibe dessert.

1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup basil leaves, packed

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Sea salt

Plenty of ice cubes

  1. In a small saucepan, gently
    heat the cream with the basil leaves on the stove top. Remove the pan from
    the heat just as small bubbles start to appear and let the cream rest for
    30 minutes to let the basil flavor fully infuse.
  2. Transfer the cream and basil leaves into a blender and blitz quickly to chop the leaves. Alternatively, you can remove the leaves but they add a nice color.
  3. Fill a large bowl with ice
    cubes to create an ice bath. Pour the basil cream into a smaller bowl and
    let it rest in the ice bath, then put everything in the fridge to cool for
    1 hour.
  4. Remove the small bowl of
    cream from the ice bath. Pour the ice and water out of the large bowl.
    Now, pour the cream from the smaller bowl into the large bowl. (Using a
    chilled bowl will help the cream whip faster). With a whisk or a hand
    mixer, beat the cream until it just starts to form soft peaks (it takes
    about 10 minutes of rigorous hand whisking).
  5. Gently fold in the sweetened
    condensed milk, add a pinch of salt and whisk for a few minutes more.
  6. Fill a large airtight container (such as Tupperware) and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Grace Kerfoot can be reached at [email protected] or @gracekerf on Twitter.