When something sounds too good to be true, it tends puts me in a very wary state of mind. "I'll believe it when I see it" is my general attitude. What can I say? I'm from New Jersey. We're brought up like that.
However, when something sounds too good to be true but then turns out to be even better, I have it in my heart to party like I'm Snooki in a Jersey Shore bar.
This two-ingredient ice cream--WHICH REQUIRES NO CHURNING YES ALL CAPS NECESSARY--is one of those miraculous things that turned out way better than I ever thought it could.
I had read about two-ingredient ice cream here and there; I'd seen it on facebook and pinterest. But I'd never tried it, until the other day.
I wanted to try it as part of Craftsy's Ice Cream Social (my name for it, not theirs), wherein they asked some of their bloggers to come up with some creative ice cream recipes. You can view all of them here.
I'm very glad that I spent the long five minutes required to make this ice cream.*
* = plus chilling time.
The idea is very simple: fold some whipped cream into some sweetened condensed milk, freeze, and serve. Voila! Ice cream.
I figured there had to be a catch, but having done it, my friends, I can tell you, this recipe is LEGIT.
And so easy that I even fancied it up with an optional 2 extra ingredients: vanilla extract and salt (salt not pictured).
The texture of this ice cream is a little flakier than traditional ice cream right when you scoop, but after oh, 30 seconds it softens into a creamy, dream-state sort of food.
With the rich mouth-feel (I hate that term but it's really the only one that fits here) of cream and the completely irresistible flavor of sweetened condensed milk, this ice cream is a beautiful treat that can stand alone as a lovely dessert.
But...you know, it couldn't hurt to add some chocolate sauce.
Or some sprinkles.
Go ahead, give it a try and see for yourself. You can literally make this ice cream in five minutes; cooling does take some time, but the effort output is very small.
2 to 4 Ingredient Ice Cream
Makes about 2 pints' worth - printable version here
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- 4 cups heavy cream
Optional additions:
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- salt
other flavorings or mix-ins of your choice
Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a large bowl. Your biggest mixing bowl, please. Stir in the vanilla and salt, if using.
Put the cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until the mixture attains firm peaks.
Remove the bowl from the mixer (go ahead, lick the whisk attachment if nobody is looking) and spoon a nice dollop of the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk. Stir to combine. This might seem like a throwaway step, but don't skip it; it makes the texture of the sweetened condensed milk lighter, and therefore makes the following step easier to complete.
Fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture. Stir slowly and gently, trying to discourage deflation in the mixture. After a while, the mixture will become smooth and cohesive. I hope you listened to me before when I said use a big bowl. I didn't totally follow my own advice and while it worked out fine, it was a little messy, as you can see:
Spoon the mixture into a freezer-safe container (I used a freezer-safe plastic container).
Cover with waxed paper or plastic wrap, and then let the mixture chill. It will be appropriately firm within 2 hours, but it won't attain an optimal ice cream texture for about 6 hours or overnight.
PSST! I also tried some with a sweet variation: A big ol' handful of sprinkles folded into the mix before freezing. It made for a slightly happier variation of this tasty dessert!
