The Best Kind Of Ice Cream To Make For Anyone's First Attempt

Homemade ice cream can be a rewarding yet daunting task, especially for beginners. There's learning to navigate your ice cream machine, mastering the ingredient ratios, and of course, fear of ruining the sweet treat's essential custard component. Luckily, there's a simpler kind of ice cream that's best for your first attempt: Philadelphia ice cream. Not to be confused with Philadelphia cream cheese or the Philadelphia roll, Philadelphia ice cream is a delicious homemade version sans eggs. That means, no cooking or risk of scrambling the eggs before churning them with milk and cream — which means less headache and a quicker preparation of 20 or 30 minutes.

To make Philadelphia ice cream, just combine cold milk and cream with sugar, vanilla, and any other flavorings in your ice cream maker and let the appliance do its thing. The resulting ice cream is velvety and light, with accentuated dairy and vanilla notes compared to egg-based ice cream, where the custard mellows out the other flavors. Since eggs typically provide both flavor and emulsification properties, it is key to note that Philadelphia ice cream won't hold up in the freezer more much longer than a day without deflating, weeping moisture, and succumbing to freezer burn. The cream does add some stability, but overall, Philadelphia ice cream is best eaten promptly. While no-churn ice cream methods are also great, Philadelphia ice cream is a perfectly tasty blank canvas to get acquainted with your appliance's settings and the churning process.

If you're tempted to try out Philadelphia ice cream for its ease and delicious creaminess, you certainly wouldn't be the first. Apparently, a simple whisked version of ice cream was served to the likes of George Washington at his presidential residence in Philly. While it's said that this gave rise to the airy frozen treat now known as Philadelphia ice cream, the original likely contained eggs — indicating that perhaps Philadelphia ice cream's key allure is actually its convenience and quick prep.

All-in-all, when attempting ice cream for the first time, don't worry about the rules. Omitting the eggs (and the custard-making altogether) allows for creative freedom — just like the founding fathers would have hoped for. You can leave out the eggs to make a variety of ice cream recipes to satisfy your sweet treat cravings, without the worry of curdling it or cooling the custard fully. Add sour cream or yogurt for an extra creamy ice cream, or start with a more traditional recipe. While using cold milk and cream makes for a speedy process, you could simmer the liquid dairy with sugar, vanilla, and other ingredients like tea to flavor and deepen the ice cream base. This will add some extra time to the process but Philadelphia ice cream is still a quick, relatively foolproof way for beginners to avoid the biggest homemade ice cream mistakes.