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Creamy Lemon Ice Cream

Creamy Lemon Ice Cream is made simply in your freezer (no-churn) with fresh homemade wholesome ingredients.  Serve them scooped on cones or in lemon boats for impressive easy entertaining!

Individual Lemon shells holding fresh no churn lemon ice cream

Fresh Homemade Lemon Ice Cream is a treat in our house!  I’m sharing a recipe today that is made in the refrigerator freezer without an ice cream maker and comes together in no time at all. Cream, whole milk, sugar and lemon are the entire ingredient list.  How wholesome is that?

This recipe is from another food writer friend of mine at The Devilish Dish.  I was given her website for the summer version of Freaky Friday!

Freaky Friday is a series that I’m a part of four times a year.  We all exchange names of other websites and share some of our favorite recipes from their sites to introduce you to someone else you might have never come upon.

I was excited to get Candi’s site as she once lived in the state I grew up in Nebraska. When I was reading her bio I knew she would have a ton of great recipes and that we’d connect because of her philosophy!  ” I share wicked good recipes. No calorie counts, no political correctness…Just sinfully stimulating scoop, and food so good …..

She has Nebraska’s favorite football game day food the Famous Runza Recipe on her site.  If you’ve never had one, trust me on this, 90,000 people in the stadium all having at least one on game day can’t be wrong.

She also has fun party ideas like a Bacon party and a Groom’s gals Spa Party that both have such cute ideas and fun things to incorporate! I think you’ll enjoy so many of her recipes because you can tell she likes to entertain and eat fun, delicious foods!

But ultimately I’m sharing this Lemon Creme Ice Cream recipe.  I especially love how she presents them in cute little lemon shells for a fun presentation!

 

No churn Lemon homemade ice cream served on a platter for parties

 

What is in Frozen desserts such as Ice Cream, Sorbet, Gelato

  • ICE CREAM- made with milk, cream, sugar and flavorings with 10% minimum milk fat
  • ICE MILK- Made with all milk, no cream sugar and flavorings and is >10% milk fat…lighter than ice cream
  • FRENCH ICE CREAM- made with all the ingredients of ice cream but also egg yolks and eggs (richer than ice cream)
  • GELATO- more milk to cream ratio and is churned slower so it’s not as frozen as ice cream and creamier and softer when served
  •  SORBET- made with fruit juice, sugar and water. Icier than Ice cream and not creamy at all without any dairy in it.
  • SHERBET- Sorbet with a small amount of cream for a creamier texture.

 

How to make Creamy Lemon Ice Cream:

  1. Mix milk, cream and sugar in a bowl.
  2. Zest a lemon
  3. Add zest and lemon juice to milk/cream mixture
  4. Mix well then put in freezer for 2 hours
  5. Remove once just starting to freeze, then using a mixer whip until doubled.  Then freeze until solid
  6. Store in a sealed container until ready to serve. (put plastic wrap over the top to prevent ice crystals from forming)

This lemon ice cream recipe is very rich from the equal parts of cream and whole milk.  When you take a bite you’ll taste enjoy the rich velvety texture that makes you savor every bite.

Using fresh lemon juice and the zest you get a burst of tart refreshing flavor that is perfect for the end of the meal!

While this homemade dessert is made so easy because it is no-churn, you could also put it in an ice cream maker to have it ready sooner. (or in the case you may have “sampled” a little more than you planned too and need a little bit more for your guests!)

To make this fresh lemon ice cream in an ice cream maker just pour fully mixed mixture into your ice cream maker and let it run until frozen. In my small kitchen aid ice cream maker it took about 40 minutes to come to a semi-soft, creamy texture that I could scoop.

Lemon Shells to hold lemon ice cream

PRO ENTERTAINING TIPS: When zesting the lemon use a microplane.  This will allow you to just barely remove the yellow skin and leave the bitter white rind.

When entertaining you can cut a lemon in half and scoop out the lemon pulp by first using a paring knife to cut between the pulp and the rind.  Then use a teaspoon to scrape out all remaining pulp.

****When shopping for lemons at the market you want the more firm ones.  The skin gets oily and soft when they have been on the shelf for a while and it will be difficult to get a light zest without taking more of the rind than when you use a drier more fresh lemon shell.

Close up of creamy fresh lemon ice cream


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Yield: 6

Creamy Lemon Ice Cream (no-churn)

Creamy Lemon ice cream is made simply in your freezer(no-churn) with fresh homemade wholesome ingredients.  Serve them scooped on cones or in lemon boats for impressive easy entertaining!

Creamy Lemon ice cream is made simply in your freezer with fresh homemade wholesome ingredients.  Serve them simply scooped or in lemon boats for impressive easy entertaining!  

Prep Time 15 minutes
chilling, freezing 2 hours 40 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 large lemons, halved lengthwise
  • mint for garnish

Instructions

  1. Combine milk, cream and sugar in a bowl.
  2. Whisk well until sugar dissolves.
  3. Stir in lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix well.
  4. Pour into a bowl, cover and freeze approximately 2 hours, until mixture is just starting to set up, and very thick and chilled.
  5. Remove from freezer and beat with an electric mixer until mixture has about doubled in volume.
  6. Place mixture in a bowl, cover and return to freezer. Freeze until solid.
  7. When ready to serve, place a scoop of frozen lemon crème into a lemon half that has been hollowed out.
  8. Garnish with mint.

Notes

You will want to purchase an additional lemon that you will not use for serving for making the zest.  

How to hollow out lemon halves:  Use a paring knife, cut lemons in half.  Then use the same knife to cut along the edge of where the pulp meets the skin.  Then use a teaspoon hollow out centers and clearing all pulp from the skin.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

6 Servings

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 292Saturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 33mgCarbohydrates: 37gSugar: 35gProtein: 2g

Did you make this recipe?

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E

Friday 19th of April 2019

Has anyone tried swapping the ingredients (2% for whole; or sugar for something else)? Recommendations? Thanks!!

Michele

Tuesday 23rd of April 2019

Hi! Ive used 2% milk and the consistency is a little bit icier... but totally fine if you'd like to make a substitute. I tried some other sugar substitutes but it left a strange aftertaste for me personally so I didnt go any further. Hope that helps. ~m

Kathy

Monday 30th of July 2018

Super cute presentation!!! Yes to everything lemon!!!!

Michele

Monday 30th of July 2018

The lemon boats are always a big hit! :)

Carolyn

Friday 27th of July 2018

Lemon ice cream is one of my favorites but it's so hard to find, so I'm making this asap!

Amy Nash

Wednesday 25th of July 2018

I just love the sound of this ice cream and I'm loving this Freaky Friday idea! That's so fun and something I would have fun with! And I would never have thought to present this in little lemon bowls! Cutest ever!

Jennifer A Stewart

Monday 23rd of July 2018

I love this recipe! I am melting in Arizona and can really use some cooling down!

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