Grandma’s Ice Cream

Every year when I was growing up, my grandma made homemade ice cream for the 4th of July. We all took turns cranking the ice cream freezer. It was such a special and memorable time in our lives to gather as a family, swim and have a BBQ. For the last 31 years we have been carrying on her tradition by having a large family gathering at our house, complete with swimming, chatting, BBQ and homemade ice cream and desserts. My daughter and I have certainly risen to the challenge with desserts and ice cream. My sister when she still lived nearby made this recipe in a similar freezer. I took it on later with my electric Cuisinart machine. This makes the best vanilla ice cream and can be a base for other flavors. It makes about 3 quarts.

6 eggs beaten

2-1/2 cups sugar

1 can of Evaporated Milk

1/2 t salt

3 t Vanilla Extract

1 t Lemon Extract

2 qts of Heavy Whipping Cream (for the Cuisinart), and if you have the traditional ice cream freezer, use Half n’Half

Mix it well to make sure the sugar is completely mixed in before pouring it into the ice cream maker. I do mine in stages and have two containers that I keep in the freezer so I can make a big batch right after one another and I don’t have to wait for the tubs to re-freeze.

I like to make variations like fresh peach (you can use jam too), lemon basil, just made lemon mint, but I think it needs peppermint extract to really make it zing. I store my ice cream in all kinds of containers, but my fav is Tovolo ice cream tubs (in picture) which are bpa free a white container and a pink lid. I use washi tape on the outside for labeling the flavor. For small amounts, I use reuse Talenti jars. I want to make cherry chocolate chip in the next round.

 Enjoy!