And by popular demand… here it is! The recipe for my kefir (and cream) ice cream is ready!
For years I’ve been toying with the idea of making homemade ice cream using kefir! But it had been even more years, so many really, since I last used my ice cream maker.
I really wonder why, given how simple it is to use! and how good the ice cream turns out! But thankfully the accumulation of excess kefir broke this spell of the… sleeping beauty ice cream maker! 😀 Because whoever sleeps too much doesn’t catch… hehe, no, I’m not going to say the obvious joke doesn’t catch ice cream 😀 😛 but… well, one thing is for sure: not letting the ice cream maker sleep is a delight! Ahah these days I can’t stop thinking about how many other varieties of kefir ice cream I could experiment with!
I already have a sea of other recipes in mind! But for now, let’s start with this kefir and cream ice cream, which was my very first attempt, and turned out so well that to be honest it even surprised me, I didn’t imagine it would be this good!!
😋
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients
- 10.6 oz Kefir (yogurt)
- 0.85 cups Fresh liquid cream
- 0.42 cups Whole milk
- 0.75 cups Sugar
- Lemon zest
Tools
- Ice cream maker
Preparation
Pour all the ingredients (kefir, cream, milk, sugar, grated zest of half a lemon) into a bowl, or better yet a jug or another container with a spout.
Two clarifications:
– I recommend using kefir that is quite thick, like yogurt
– if you want to use half kefir and half cream (i.e., no milk) feel free to do so, I replaced part of the cream with milk… to give myself a semblance of “it’s less caloric”. 😀
Stir with a spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Pour the mixture through the opening of the ice cream maker and start it immediately.
The ice cream will be ready after 30-40 minutes, depending on the program set, or in any case when it becomes fluffy and detaches from the walls of the ice cream maker.
When ready, the ice cream made with a home ice cream maker is great to eat immediately, or it can be left (covered) inside the ice cream maker for 10-15 minutes, the cooling disc will keep it at the right temperature during this time.
If not consumed immediately or if some is left over, it can be stored in the freezer for a few days. In this case, I suggest leaving it – after removing it from the freezer – at room temperature for a few minutes (or more, depending on room temperature) and stirring it with a spoon to restore its creaminess: since it’s a homemade ice cream completely free of thickeners, storing it in the freezer obviously won’t yield the same results as store-bought ice cream, but using the simple trick of bringing it to the right temperature (ice cream should be creamy and never frozen) I assure you that you’ll enjoy it to the fullest.
Ah! This lemon flavor, which I loved, is deliberately a simple delicate aroma, because for this first ice cream trial I wanted a basic ice cream, but it’s clear that it can be flavored as desired.
For example: quickly cook some cherries and… yes, come on! if you haven’t read the recipe for microwave-cooked cherries – they are excellent as a topping for this ice cream! – click on the link and check out the pictures, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. 😉 🙂
With or Without an Ice Cream Maker?
To make this kefir and cream ice cream I used my ice cream maker, a rather old model that is no longer in production but has been replaced by other equally valid models (I mentioned one in the Tools, take a look!).
If instead you don’t want to use or buy an ice cream maker, you can still produce your ice cream without an ice cream maker. It’s a method I haven’t personally tried (having my ice cream maker in perfect working order… 😉) but I know many people who do it by putting the mixture in the freezer (better to whip the cream in this case) and stirring it every half hour until the desired thickness is achieved. In this manual way, the production time is longer, but the ice cream turns out equally good and creamy.
Enjoy a good ice cream!
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Finally, but not least, I want to mention the group KefirMania and More that taught me how to best manage my kefir and use it in my recipes, ice cream included. 🙂
