Making Ice Cream Without A Machine: First Attempt— Cinnamon Chip Ice Cream

This was my first time really making ice cream from scratch, and while it wasn’t as bad as I expected, it definitely could have gone better. I want to try again as soon as possible.
What I think went wrong: the consistency was too icy, so I needed to stir it more. I don’t have an ice cream maker, so I used the whisking method, and I think more air would have been incorporated if I had used a hand mixer. I also ended up trying to do too many things at once and while heating up the milk and sugar, it sat too long and most of the sugar sat at the bottom of the pan and burnt so the ice cream took on that icky burnt sugar taste. The chocolate chips mostly covered that up but it was still a problem.

Overall besides the texture, it still tasted pretty good, especially with a lot of chocolate syrup.

Cinnamon Chip Ice Cream

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli double chocolate bittersweet chips)

Combine cornstarch and heavy cream in a small bowl and whisk until dissolved.
Combine the milk, cinnamon, salt, and sugar together in a saucepan and warm over medium heat. Remove from heat and slowly pour cornstarch slurry into the milk mixture, whisking to combine.
Return pan to medium heat and warm until the mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and continue to stir for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to release the steam. Refrigerate for several hours, until well chilled.

If you have an ice cream maker: Once chilled, pour ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream (to prevent ice crystals) and close with an airtight lid. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker: Pour ice cream base into a shallow freezer safe dish.
Place ice cream base in the freezer for approximately 45 minutes. Remove from freezer and use a spatula to pull ice cream away from the sides of the dish.
At this point you have two options - 1) whisk ice cream vigorously, or 2) use a hand mixer or stick/immersion blender.
Return ice cream base to freezer again for 45 minutes. Remove from freezer and mix again. Stir in chocolate chips at this point. Continue freezing at 30 to 45 minute intervals until ice cream base is thick and becomes difficult to mix (about the consistency of soft serve ice cream). The whole process will probably take 2 to 3 hours to complete.

Freeze completed base for 2 to 4 hours, or until firm.

(adapted from Scoop Adventures)