Watch out Ben & Jerry’s because Camila is hot on your trail! Back in October, we got Jon an ice cream maker for his birthday. I thought it would be a fun family activity! You have to fill those weekend days at home with something! Of course, like every other craft/activity, I come up I’m typically alone for most of the process when reality sets in. The boys start off strong wanting to help and do everything, but then they get bored and disappear only to conveniently reappear when it’s time to eat and share with everyone that “they” made the ice cream!!!! I found that I really enjoyed making the ice cream and it’s become a fun little hobby! I have tested out a couple of recipes and have found my favorite one! It’s the vanilla ice cream recipe by Salt & Baker! It tastes like something from your favorite ice cream shop. It’s rich, creamy and the perfect base for you to add whatever you like! I have added chocolate chip cookie dough and oreo’s for cookies and cream! I know it can seem overwhelming, but I’m going to show you how to make ice cream at home! It’s super easy and you will feel like a pro in no time!

How to make ice cream at home!

Here are the must-have tools you are going to need to make your own homemade ice cream!

1. An ice cream maker! I know there are some no-churn recipes out there, but I think ice cream made in a machine comes out creamier. I picked up the Nostalgia Ice Cream Maker because it had good reviews, I liked the color and I thought the boys would enjoy the ability to swirl in candies or treats into the ice cream. Thus far it has worked perfectly. It’s also super easy to use and clean.

2. Temperature is pretty important when it comes to heating up the milk and then the mixture of eggs and milk. You don’t want to cook the eggs! Having a thermometer is really helpful in getting to the ideal temp the recipe recommends.

3. If you are going to start competing with Ben & Jerry’s you need your own take and go containers for gifting to family and friends! I’m dying to have labels made to use on these bad boys. I need to think of a cool ice cream shop name for them, but I have zero ideas! Any suggestions? I don’t get past, ” Scoops” and there have to be a million better names out there.

3. Ummm hello waffle cone maker! This is currently on my way home to me! I will let you know how it goes, but it has great reviews and how can you go wrong with homemade waffle cones for your homemade ice cream!

4. Once your ice cream mixture is ready to go in the freezer you place it in a freezer insulated container! This one is slim and stackable, which means it doesn’t take up a ton of precious freezer space!

5. I find an ice cream spade to be more user friendly than a traditional ice cream scoop! I have a hard time get a traditional scooper to make those awesome circular scoops. The ice cream is always too hard to get the perfect ball. The spade makes it really easy to scoop out your homemade ice cream and it works perfectly in the freezer container.

6. It’s essential to get your machine churning at the best temperature, and that means getting ice cream machine rock salt to lower the temperature and make sure you are only churning for around 30-40 mins. Anything longer and you will start to get little crystals in your ice cream. It still tastes good, but it’s perfect.

Have I tickled your taste buds? It’s been a fun weekend activity for me to tackle! Next weekend I’m going to try out this vanilla base with brownies! Are you ready to make your own ice cream at home?

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