The new ice cream flavours you need to make in your machine

There’s a lot of bad homemade ice cream out there. Rock hard, studded with ice crystals, devoid of flavour – we’ve all tasted some, be it churned by our own hand or someone else’s. Truth is, there’s a lot of misunderstanding around how ice cream is made and it can get quite scientific if you let it. Get the wrong ratio of dairy to sugar or put too much salt or alcohol in the mix and it won’t freeze properly. Try to bypass the all-important churning and you’re left with a brick of frozen cream. Serve it straight from the freezer and you’ll be bending spoons just to serve scoops that taste of nothing much at all.

When you get homemade ice cream right, however, it’s one of the most impressive and enjoyable desserts you can rustle up. It’s entirely made in advance, easily spruced up with a few garnishes into a plated pud, and it allows your creativity to run wild. Ice cream can be grown up and sophisticated or playful and nostalgic.

We’re here to make sure you get ice cream right rather than being confronted with a plastic container of milky ice. Our ratios are honed to precision and our flavour combos are like nothing you’ll find in the shops. We’ve even included some super easy ways to serve your homemade creations so they go from a simple scoop to something sensational. So empty your freezer, stock up on plastic containers, dust off your ice cream scoop and prepare for a summer of refreshment – we’re bringing the parlour to you!

Tips for making the best ice cream

Some other bits and tips to remember when delving into the world of frozen cream…

We’re making ice cream here, not gelato. That silky, light tub of gelato you enjoyed in Italy? Try as you might, it’s just impossible to replicate at home. Made with milk and a hell of a lot of experience, proper Italian gelato also requires a specialist bit of kit that whips and aerates (rather than churning) the mixture as it freezes. The ice cream we’re making is thicker, made with a cream custard base. What it lacks in Italian lightness it more than makes up for in rich indulgence.

Temperature is key. Commercial ice creams contain stabilisers and other ingredients that make them easier to scoop straight from the freezer. We don’t have that luxury with homemade ice cream, but you wouldn’t want to do that anyway – the colder the ice cream is, the more muted its flavour. Ideally, ice cream should be served at about -13°C, whereas most freezers run at a minimum of -18°C. It’ll take about 5-8 minutes for ice cream to come up to a serving temperature from your freezer, but if you forget you can also soften it in the microwave in 10 second blasts. If you’re worried about the ice cream melting before you’ve brought it to the table, freezing, or at least chilling, your bowls is a good idea.

Get creative – but know the science. Sugar isn’t present in ice cream just to add sweetness – it also helps prevent it freezing into a rock solid block of ice. The same goes for salt, alcohol and other fats (like oil); used in the right amounts they can create a flavourful silkiness, but too much or too little can upset the delicate balance needed to give ice cream the right consistency. It’s best to either read up on the science or, if that sounds a bit too much like school, find a recipe using similar ingredients and swap them with the ones you want to use.

A machine makes all the difference. You’ll often see ice cream recipes state that, if you don’t have an ice cream machine, you can freeze the custard and whisk it every hour until it’s churned. We hate to say it, but we’ve found this to be simply untrue. While the result is still perfectly edible, the lack of proper churning results in a disappointing texture. That doesn’t mean you need to spend big on a piece of kit we know isn’t going to be used day-in, day-out – even the simplest churner will produce great ice cream, provided the recipe is sound.

Our favourite ice cream recipes to try right now

Olive oil ice cream

Hear us out, because although this might sound cheffy, it’s really worth a go. Different olive oils offer up a surprisingly vast range of flavours that are brought out in this pared back preparation. If you get one that’s particularly fruity rather than grassy and peppery, it can work wonders in a sweet setting. This silky ice cream is stylish, complex and great for anyone who doesn’t like the sometimes overly sweet and sickly ice creams in the shops.

Find the recipe here

Salted pistachio and lime ice cream

A simple upgrade on a holiday favourite, adding salt to the pistachio ice cream opens up your palette so you can taste more of the biscuity, toasted nuts and zesty lime.

Find the recipe here

Builder’s tea ice cream
You can get coffee ice cream everywhere, but tea-flavoured is – for some reason – much rarer, despite its incredible flavour. Swap your afternoon brew for a bowl of builder’s tea ice cream on a hot summer’s day and find yourself in cooling, cuppa heaven. It really works.

Find the recipe here

Mint choc chip pain au chocolat

Nostalgia meets Parisian sophistication in this artful mash-up of retro holiday flavour and patisserie joie de vivre. With little nuggets of toasted croissant throughout, this is the mint choc chip’s cultured cousin.

Find the recipe here

Raspberry cheesecake ice cream

A rippled two-tone ice cream, its’ rich and creamy with mascarpone, cut through with fresh raspberries for a bright, tart flavour. Stirring crumbled biscotti in before freezing adds wonderful crunch. Bellissimo!

Find the recipe here

Peach and tarragon ice cream

Sweet, juicy peaches and grassy, aniseedy tarragon make an elegant pairing rarely found outside swanky restaurants, so it’s certainly not an ice cream flavour you can get in the shops! Both the flavours are mellowed out by the cream to create something moreish yet sophisticated.

Find the recipe here

Explore all our ice cream recipes here.