How to Make Homemade Ice Cream (Grandpa’s Famous Recipe)

Homemade Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream is a big deal in the Barker family.

From the time my dad was young, it has been a tradition to make homemade ice cream on the first Sunday of every month. He has many fond memories of helping his dad hand crank the delicious ice cream.

The tradition continued on throughout his childhood, and it’s a tradition all the members of the Barker family have treasured throughout the years.

While the recipe has evolved over time – and we don’t use a hand crank ice cream machine anymore – the love of this tradition has continued on to through multiple generations – and I hope it doesn’t stop any time soon.

I know it’s something I always looked forward to every first Sunday of the month – we would always gather together with our cousins and play while eating the delicious ice cream. I have never found another recipe quite like my Grandpa’s, and it really is something special.

Homemade Ice Cream Equipment/Ingredients

There are many ways to make homemade ice cream – you can use a crank machine, an ice cream maker that uses salt and ice, or one that has a container that you freeze prior to using. You can even make ice cream in a bag!

There’s no one right way to do it, which is what makes making homemade ice cream so fun. In our family, we use this recipe below, which is best when used with a machine that has salt and ice.

For this recipe, you will need:

• Ice Cream maker
• Ice Cream Rock Salt
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Half and Half
• Fruit
• Sugar
• Jell-o mix
• Lemon juice

Best Ice Cream Maker

As I mentioned above, we always use a machine that requires salt and ice. But there are tons of different models of ice cream makers – it can be hard to decide which one to get. They can be as cheap as about $30 or as much as several hundred.

The ice cream maker that I have is Nostalgia Wood Bucket Ice Cream Maker. I haven’t had any issues with it, and we’ve had it for a few years.

If you go to Amazon, they have sections for different price ranges, so I would definitely check that out here. I would go through and read the reviews and choose one based on the size you need and the overall reviews.

If you have a Bosch Mixer (or you are interested in getting one), I’ve heard AMAZING things about their ice cream attachment. It is just 1.5 quarts, but you can easily use it for this recipe.

Tips for Success

• Make it the night before. If you don’t make it the night before, you need to make sure you prepare it at least four hours before you are wanting to serve it so it has the proper amount of time to set up
• Be careful when layering the ice and salt – if you use too much salt, the machine will get too cold and bind the machine. If you use too little, it won’t get cold enough. The machine should stop after about 40 minutes, which means you achieved the right ratio. We recommend doing one or two layers of ice, then salt, then another layer of ice, and then another layer of salt, until you reach the fill line.
• Pay attention to the fill line on your machine. You do not want to overflow it!

FAQ about this Recipe

The ice cream isn’t freezing in the ice cream maker – why?

This is because the ice cream maker didn’t get cold enough, which typically happens when there isn’t enough rock salt.

Can I use an ice cream maker that doesn’t use salt and ice?

 You can, though I haven’t been successful with this. I attempted to use my Pampered Chef Ice Cream maker with this recipe, and I ended up with a big, soupy mess. I think the proportions were off. I would try and adjust this recipe to be similar one of your tried and true ice cream recipes using your machine. Let me know how it turns out!

Can you refreeze the ice cream?

 I would refreeze it once.

Is this soft serve or hard serve ice cream?

It is soft serve.

This is so fattening and full of sugar, why would you make it?

Because it’s delicious.

How long does this last in the freezer?

When properly stored, I would probably recommend no longer than about a month (though we’ve eaten some longer…I just don’t want anyone to get sick on my recommendation!)

How do I adjust this recipe for a differently sized ice cream maker?

 This ice cream recipe is designed for a five-quart ice cream maker. However, it can easily be scaled down depending on your needs. I would just divide each ingredient by five, and then times it by however many quarts your machine is.

Variations for Recipes for Homemade Ice Cream

Although my favorite homemade ice cream is the raspberry version, this has taken any many different forms over the years. Really, you can use any fruit and jello mix that you want. My grandpa would usually stick to these three:

• Peach
• Raspberry
• Strawberry

Though every once in a while he would experiment – I recall Rocky Road one time, as well as Grape (which wasn’t received as well as he might have hoped). I do think that this recipe is best when making a fruit-flavored ice cream, though you can definitely experiment.

There is obviously a lot of sugar in this. Some people in our family choose to cut the sugar down, which is fine. But I think the full sugar, full-fat version is definitely the best. You only live once, right?!

You can easily throw in some additional toppings just before you start churnings:

• Chocolate chips
• Nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts…whatever!)
• Brownie chunks
• Cookie dough
• Caramel
• Granola

Easy Homemade Ice Cream

Ice Cream Maker Recipes:

Here are some other great ice cream maker recipes that I’ve found on Pinterest in case you are looking for something a little bit different.

• Butter Pecan Ice Cream
• Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
• Semi-Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream
• No Churn Brownie Ice Cream

Other Heirloom Recipes:

I think the best recipes are the ones that have been passed down from generation to generation. We have shared several of our family heirloom recipes, which you can browse through below. I hope to add many more of the years because these are recipes that I truly never want to lose!

• Grandma Delcie’s Old-Fashioned Cheese Ball
• Easy and Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings Recipe
• The World’s Best Chocolate Cake Recipe
• Grandma’s Easy Egg Noodle Recipe