With summer on its way, Grandma’s Homemade Ice Cream is a custard-style vanilla frozen treat the entire family will enjoy.
Written in her beautiful cursive script on a simple white lined note card, Barbara keeps it in our grandma’s wooden recipe box. However, several years ago, she typed up a dozen of Grandma Kuhn’s recipes for my sisters and me so that we all have copies for ourselves.
Grandma’s Homemade Ice Cream
This vanilla ice cream recipe is the only one you will ever need. Our grandma called it Cooked Ice Cream as it is an egg-based mixture that you need to cook on the stovetop.
Be sure to temper the egg mixture before adding it to the hot milk mixture to prevent cooking the beaten eggs.
When it comes to what ice cream maker should you use, oh, there are so, so many options! Barbara uses one of the small countertop models but growing up we had one of those great electric wooden bucket ice cream makers that dad packed full of ice and salt as it cranked away.
- 4 Tablespoons flour
- 3 ½ cups sugar
- 1 gallon milk
- 8 to 10 eggs beaten
- Vanilla to taste up to one Tablespoon
- 1 pint half and half or heavy whipping cream
- Mix flour and sugar.
- Put 1 quart of whole milk in saucepan on stove to warm.
- When hot, add sugar mixture, stirring constantly until it starts to thicken.
- Add beaten eggs to hot milk mixture, tempering the egg mixture first to prevent cooking the beaten eggs.
- Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens like a custard.
- Remove from heat and cool completely.
- Once cooled, add vanilla to taste - up to 1 Tablespoon.
- Add to ice cream freezer insert.
- Add pint of cream and whole milk to about an inch from the top.
- Freeze per the instructions for your ice cream freezer.
- Eat right away or freeze to get a firmer texture.
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Pam says
June 7, 2017 at 11:16 pmWHAT DOES TEMPER MEAN? Do you just add a little hot mixture in with the eggs to warm them up or something else?
Megan says
June 13, 2017 at 10:40 pmInstead of pouring the eggs into the hot milk mixture, just add a very small amount of the hot liquid into the eggs while constantly whisking the eggs. Continue slowly adding the hot milk while whisking the eggs and after a few moments you can safely add the remaining hot liquid. Adding the hot liquid slowly will gradually bring up the temperature of the eggs without scrambling them.
Diane Conti says
August 4, 2017 at 6:52 pmThank you for posting recipes for real cooks using real ingredients and no package mixes.
Megan says
August 9, 2017 at 12:10 amYou are welcome, though we aren’t opposed to a mix once in a while!
Lynn says
August 5, 2017 at 1:13 amHow much vanilla should you add and when do you add it? I didn’t see it in the recipe. Thanks! 🙂
Megan says
August 9, 2017 at 12:13 amWe don’t use vanilla in this recipe. If you choose to add it, we’d do it after you cream the butter and sugar.
Lynn says
August 9, 2017 at 11:10 pmThanks Megan 🙂 I saw vanilla in the list of ingredients both on your page and also in the handwritten recipe and assumed that it was used it in the mix somewhere.
Megan says
August 9, 2017 at 11:59 pmLynn – I’m so sorry…I was answering a bunch of questions about the peach batter cake and didn’t look what recipe you were looking at! I’m checking!!
Megan says
August 10, 2017 at 12:42 amSo…add up to one Tablespoon (Grandma added 2-3 “capfuls”) to taste after it’s cooled and before you add the mixture to the ice cream insert. So sorry for the confusion!