“I scream, you scream, we all love ice cream,” and in celebration of National Ice Cream Month, there’s no better time than July to cool down with a scoop or two.
I have always loved vanilla and chocolate together -- not a strawberry ice cream girl, due to a strawberry milk incident at Camp Garawaya when I was in the third grade. They had us make Brunswick stew out in the woods and had strawberry milk for us to drink. It was hot that summer and strawberry milk did not set well. So there is no way I would ever have strawberry ice cream. Even today, I am not so sure.
Do you remember back in the day when Sonic had swirl ice cream – vanilla and chocolate “swirled” together in a cone or a cup. It was my absolute favorite.
We never really made homemade ice cream, but we always had a gallon of something in the freezer at home. My Grandpa Pearson used to make homemade black walnut ice cream out on the back steps. That was all about him, not the grandkids. He was pretty serious about it. If you liked black walnut ice cream, you could have some, but not much. I would rather have chocolate any day. Willie Hobbs also loves black walnut ice cream.
I asked Facebook and Twitter friends and followers what their favorite ice cream was and asked them to share their homemade ice cream recipes. The response was overwhelming.
Bob Graves, Julie Holmes, Betty Duncan, Henry Henley and Debbie Bagwell haven’t tried an ice cream flavor they do not like. Kevin Hitt said, “Strawberry, chocolate, orange sherbet -- I love all ice cream!” I like those kind of folks.
The two most popular ice cream flavors in the world are chocolate and vanilla.
My brother-in-law, Mitch Sisson, makes a great chocolate homemade ice cream that is a personal favorite.
Easy Chocolate
2 cans of condensed milk
½ gallon chocolate milk
1 tub of Cool Whip
Keep ice full and salted down. Run it until it bogs the motor down—usually about 35 to 45 minutes.
Mitch needs to make that more often.
Melissa Reed and Tina Pittman love some chocolate ice cream. Brandi Bridges Velchek said, “Chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate, salted caramel, Can you have only one?” Sherry Henderson is also a big fan of Blue Bell’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
The Gary girls love mint chocolate chip ice cream. For Brenda Vance and Gary and Charlcy Gary Hubbard, it is their absolute favorite.
Luvel used to make a flavor called “Chocolate Ripple” that had a ribbon of chocolate through vanilla ice cream. It was so good. They still have it, but they do not call it by that name.
Apparently, we have a lot more vanilla or vanilla bean lovers than any other flavor, I think.
Vanilla ice cream fans include Bryan Carubba, Rob Turner, Marcelle Robertson, Kevin Hitt, Shirley Edwards, Kenny King, Brad Pearson and Leah Pearson Garrott.
Judy Cascio shared her mom’s favorite homemade vanilla ice cream recipe.
Mom’s Vanilla Ice Cream
6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can eagle brand
2 cans Carnation evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
Pour mixture into freezer and fill freezer with whole milk. Freezes quicker if you chill in refrigerator before starting freezer.
Bethany Bryant Cooper shared a family-favorite vanilla ice cream recipe.
Homemade Vanilla
4 eggs
2 pints whipping cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla
2 cups of sugar
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 pint half and half
Finish off with milk.
The base of Kay Slocum’s homemade ice cream recipe is vanilla ice cream, but she adds strawberries, peaches or bananas to change things up.
Lucy's ice cream
5 eggs beaten
3 cups sugar,
1 quart milk (approximately)
Mix well. Cook on medium heat until steaming. Do not boil. Steam for five minutes.
Add 1 can condensed milk,
1 teaspoon vanilla
Put in freezer and fill to fill line.
Carla Thompson loves this recipe by Kay Slocum.
Cheryl Blanton and John and Christy VanHorn love peach ice cream. Ken Murrell said he loves French vanilla and Blue Bell's banana pudding flavored ice cream. Eddy Dean, Sherrie Palmertree, Nancy Latham and Etty Brown love strawberry ice cream.
A few people had unique answers, including Pat and Jill White, who both love rocky road. Gail Dorroh loves pralines and cream ice cream. Kristina Perry loves Moose Tracks, while Sue Boatman loves Bunny Tracks. (During that unfortunate time when Blue Bell was off the shelves locally, we had the chance to experiment with Bunny Tracks. My husband, Pepper, loved it, but it was a little too busy for me.) Mary Gates Colvin loves pistachio ice cream while Linda Jo Templeton loves pistachio almond.
Jenny Mann Reed loves Blue Bell Tin Roof or her homemade Butterfinger ice cream.
There are a lot of people who love Butterfinger Ice Cream. Betty McCoy and Margie Pepper are among them. Mary Catherine Finch Carmichael shared her favorite recipe for homemade Butterfinger Ice Cream.
Butterfinger Homemade Ice Cream
8 ounces Cool Whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 gallon chocolate milk
5 Butterfinger candy bars chopped.
Mix and freeze.
Brad Pearson and Carmen Caldieraro love lemon ice cream. The Burger King in downtown Mattoon, Ill., serves lemon ice cream cones with little eyeball candies to make them look like monsters. They have for years. That’s where Carmen first came to love lemon ice cream. Carmen and I became friends many years ago when we were next door neighbors for the one year we lived in Mattoon. We had a lot of lemon ice cream together that year.
Butter pecan is another fan favorite. Coleen McKenzie, Jean Kilgore and Royce Burson are among the fans. Jean Kilgore said, “Butter pecan is my weakness, especially Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom.”
Amanda Richardson raised the question about orange sherbet – is it considered an ice cream? Marcelle Robertson says no, but others might disagree.
Carol Bailey Morgan remembers making homemade sherbet with Sunkist and sweetened condensed milk. Mary Catherine Finch Carmichael said she used a two-liter bottle of Sunkist and added one large can of crushed pineapple to her recipe.
Homemade Orange Sherbet by Kay Palmertree Slocum
2 liter bottle of orange cola (Fanta)
1 can of condensed milk,
1 can crushed pineapple (size depends on how much pineapple you want)
1 jar cherries chopped
Mix, put in freezer, fill to fill line. Freeze. It usually freezes faster than ice cream.
Kay said you can also make lime sherbet with frozen limeade, Sprite or 7 Up, milk, add pineapple, cherries, etc.
Patsy Files Watson said, “I made that 4th of July! Everyone loved it!”
Dorothy Y. Embry Pepper, Amanda Richardson, Sue Salley and Jennifer Nix love homemade orange sherbet.
Do you have a favorite ice cream flavor or recipe? Send it to me at gwenwoodssisson@yahoo.com.
