Truly Old-Fashioned

I should have done this a long time ago.

Yeah, that?  I made it.

Thus fulfilling . . .

✔ 38. Make ice cream from scratch

Now before you roll your eyes and say, "Whatever, no big deal," let me inform you that I did this without an ice cream maker.  Let me say that again, but in bold and all caps.  I MADE IT WITHOUT AN ICE CREAM MAKER.

We don't have the space for one, and I didn't want to buy something I might use only once a year anyway.  (Yes, I know you can get them for cheap at a thrift store, but that's not the point here.)

Okay, so how did I do it, you ask?  I have actually made ice cream in the bag method before, way back in my Girl Scout days.  That's sorta fun, but you should probably buy rock salt and you'll need some good plastic bags.  Also, the ice cream isn't as good as the kind you buy.  For that, you need a custard base, which means eggs and a little bit of cooking.

Where's an easy place to find a good ice cream recipe?  Screw Pinterest, this one calls for tried and true.  Betty Crocker red book to the rescue.  Here is her vanilla ice cream recipe.

Now, as for the freezing it into ice cream part, I searched around and found this guy's method.  The basic premise is that you put it in the freezer and just keep stirring it every half hour or so for at least 3 hours.  Yes, it takes much longer than whatever magic an ice cream maker does, but it worked!  The timing was perfect, too, as our ice cream was ready right after baby went to bed!  (It was soft serve consistency around the 3-hour mark, so I actually tacked on an extra hour.)

It was pretty cool watching it slowly turn into ice cream over the course of the evening!

It came out so good!  The only ingredient I actually had to purchase specifically for this was heavy cream.  Everything else was on hand.

I actually did a little happy dance in the kitchen after getting these two beautiful scoops into the bowl.

Have you ever made ice cream without a gadget?  How did it turn out?