There are countless homemade ice cream recipes out there, but most of them require an ice cream maker — a device that freezes the mixture while churning it continuously. The thing is, if you freeze the mixture without a machine, the finished product will inevitably be full of ice crystals, which seriously affects the taste. This holds true even if you take the ice cream out of the freezer very, very frequently and stir it thoroughly, as some recipes suggest. I've tried that method many times and have always been disappointed with the results. However, if you want to make ice cream but don't have an ice cream maker, there's a fantastic solution: semifreddo. This Italian ice cream is made with a base of heavy cream, whipped egg whites, and yolks. Various berries, nuts, chocolate, and cocoa can also be added. Because it's made with heavy cream and contains no milk, it doesn't freeze into crystals — even without an ice cream maker. For the best results, be sure to use the freshest eggs possible. As a mix-in, I used walnuts, but any others work great too — almonds, cashews, roasted peanuts. For the chocolate, use milk or dark, whichever you prefer (I used milk chocolate). Be a bit more careful with berries and fruit. Because they contain a lot of liquid, they can turn into chunks of ice in the finished ice cream (try popping a cherry or another berry straight from the freezer and you'll see what I mean). I recommend using a small amount of low-moisture berries — raspberries, for example. They'll still have some crystals, but much smaller ones than, say, cherries or strawberries. If you don't have any low-moisture berries on hand, just make the ice cream without them — it'll still be absolutely delicious.
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 400 g heavy cream 33%-38%
- 150 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- Mix-ins:
- 100 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 50 g chocolate
- 50 g nuts
How to cook semifreddo ice cream
Prepare the mix-ins for the ice cream. Finely chop the chocolate with a knife (or grate it on a box grater).
Wash the eggs thoroughly with hot soapy water and dry them. Separate the whites from the yolks. Place the whites in the refrigerator. Add roughly half of the sugar and the vanilla sugar to the yolks. Beat with a hand mixer until the mixture is pale and thick.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. For the whites to whip up properly, make sure to use a clean, dry bowl and a clean, dry whisk.
Fold in the egg whites in two or three additions, each time gently folding them in from the bottom up with a spoon or spatula.
Pour the mixture into one or more freezer-safe containers. Place in the freezer for 3–4 hours. Once an hour, take the container out of the freezer, stir well, and fluff the mixture with a fork, lifting the mix-ins up from the bottom (as shown in the photo).
On average, the ice cream is usually ready to eat after about 3–4 hours (depending on the size of the container and the temperature of your freezer). As it sits longer it becomes firmer, and before serving you'll want to let it sit at room temperature for 5–10 minutes. When serving, you can sprinkle with chocolate and garnish with berries and nuts.
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