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Food

16 Homemade Ice Cream Recipes, Because You Deserve Better Than the Freezer Aisle

No more freezer burn!
16 Homemade Ice Cream Recipes, Because You Deserve Better Than the Freezer Aisle
Photo by Matt Zuras

It’s not surprising that we here at MUNCHIES are fans of ice cream. We’re not afraid to embrace the most obnoxiously bougie brands out there, and we’ve even got a show dedicated to it, if you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months. And now that the warm weather is here once again, we’re ready to eat it non-stop until someone has to pry the spoon from our cold, numb hands once the first frost hits. If you, like us, are looking to feed your ice cream habit—or maybe just looking for the perfect accompaniment to your pies and birthday cakes—we’ve collected our favorite recipes for churning up ice cream at home to keep your fridge stocked all year round. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to pull that ice cream machine out of the depths of your kitchen cabinet and dust it off—it's about to be working hard.

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We had to start you off with the classic. With this simple base, you can let your inner ice cream artist run wild, throwing in whatever other sweet, salty, crunchy ingredients your little heart desires. Or keep it basic—but, you know, not basic basic—and serve it straight-up with your preferred pie.

Peanut butter and jelly does an excellent job of perfectly combining sweet and salty ingredients in sandwich form, and it only gets better in ice cream, trust us.

Wintergreen Ice Cream Recipe

If you’re a fan of mint chocolate chip, this recipe is for you. Wintergreen berries make for an excellent natural minty ice cream flavor, but don’t let its name fool you—wintergreen is an evergreen plant, and you can find berries on its branches all year round if you know where to look.

Jaggery Ice Cream Recipe

Jaggery is the product of reducing the juice that comes from crushing sugar cane down to a solid, and it’s super popular in various parts of Asia and Africa as a sweetener. Because of its more brown-sugar-like notes, it works really well with cold weather fruits like persimmons and apples.

Buckfast Ice Cream

Scots can’t get enough of Buckfast, the caffeinated fortified wine originally from Buckfast Abbey in England. So, naturally, Glasgow’s Mad Chef Danny McLaren put it in ice cream.

Blue Cheese Ice Cream Recipe

Wait wait no come back! You know how you love to smother your ice cream in syrupy walnuts and cherries (the real kind)? Those things ALSO go great with blue cheese! Give it a shot, we promise we’re not crazy. (You can also watch how it's made here.)

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Blue Spruce and Ginger Ice Cream Recipe

You can harvest spruce tips—the little bright green buds of new, soft needles at the end of the branch—in the spring, and their pineapple-y flavor pairs perfectly with fresh ginger.

If you’re looking for a way to up your apple pie game this summer, may we suggest this burnt honey and rosemary ice cream, from the experts at Oddfellows Ice Cream Company?

Ditto for this brown butter and sage concoction from our buddy Sam Mason. As per his visit to the MUNCHIES Test Kitchen, fresh herbs should be a given for any ice cream combo.

We’re always looking for ways to relive our youth, aren’t we? Give the Chipwich of your childhood an adult upgrade with a little shot of Jameson.

Where to even begin with this delicious monstrosity of a creation? Icebox cakes are the gift that keeps on giving, since you can whip it up fast, then keep it in the freezer, nibbling bites off of it at will when the urge for something sweet overcomes your willingness to turn on the oven.

Grasshopper Float Recipe

How does one improve the experience of drinking the outrageously green cocktail called a Grasshopper? By making it into an ice cream float for grown ups, of course. Sam Anderson of Mission Chinese Food uses a splash of liquid chlorophyll for that extra natural green hue.

Per chef Deuki Hong’s instruction, you cannot skimp on the ice cream, milk, and sweetened condensed milk—all those other toppings are up to you.

Baklava Milkshake Recipe

When Action Bronson and Christina Tosi get together in the kitchen with sugar involved, good things like this baklava milkshake—with crumbled baklava and smoky bacon fat—happen.

Chocolate Shake Recipe

The best milkshakes are made with soft frozen custard, not hand-dipped hard ice cream. So go all out and make your own vanilla custard as a base for this fast food-style chocolate shake.

Boozy Chocolate Milkshake Recipe

Use good-quality dark chocolate and fresh mint for the chocolate syrup you’ll use to flavor this boozy shake for a little extra oomph.