Homemade ice-cream: no gadgets, no problem

With the mercury rising, there is nothing better than an ice-cream, except a homemade tub of deliciousness, that is.  Here are a few easy ice-creams that you don’t need a machine to make at home.

These are simplicity itself, just mix and freeze. That’s the only hard part, you’ll have to wait for them to become icy cold. Unless you happen to have some frozen bananas lurking in your freezer, waiting to be turned into smoothies.

In that happy instance you can make an almost instant banana ice-cream by blending them, straight from the freezer, with yoghurt or creme-fraiche. Optional additions include a little cinnamon, or lime zest, or maple syrup.

Frozen avocados may be poor substitutes for the real thing (though they are far more reliable), but they are perfect for the avocado, and avocado and chocolate ice-cream recipes that have proliferated recently.

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Jamie Oliver has a recipe for an unadulterated avocado ice-cream here, but in most cases cocoa powder is used to add flavour, and the fruit just contributes its creamy texture.

Avocado and chocolate ice-cream made with coconut milk and dairy-free cocoa powder is vegan friendly. The high street health food shop Holland & Barrett has a useful recipe here. You'll have to do a bit of stirring with this one as it freezes, though.

Slightly more sinful, and not requiring any attention once it hits the freezer, is this cheat's salted caramel ice cream: stir a tin of condensed milk caramel (the sort you'd use for banoffee pie), or a jar of dulce de leche, or its Mexican cousin, cajeta (made with goats' milk), carefully into a carton of cream that has been lightly whipped. The caramel/cream proportions are up to you. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt crystals and freeze in a covered bowl.

Nigella Lawson’s no-churn coffee ice-cream

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
300 ml double cream
175 g condensed milk
2 tbsp espresso powder
30 ml Tia Maria

Method
Mix everything together and freeze in plastic container. Yes, that is it.

Domini Kemp’s banana ‘ice-cream’

Serves 6

Ingredients
280g cashew nuts, soaked for 4 hours or overnight and then drained
100ml water
4 frozen ripe bananas, chopped
1 splash vanilla extract
140ml maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
3 tbsp cacao nibs (available in most health stores) or a little bit of chopped up dark chocolate

Method
1. You'll need a good blender for this. Place the soaked, drained cashew nuts in the blender along with the 100ml water and blitz till smooth.

2. Add the frozen banana bits, the vanilla extract, maple syrup and olive or coconut oil and blitz again; it will thicken nicely.

3. Add the nibs and give one final blast to evenly distribute them.

4. Decant the whole lot into a plastic container and freeze for a few hours or overnight.

Shane Smith’s No churn berry ice-cream

Serves: 10

Ingredients
125g raspberries
125g halved blueberries
100g chopped strawberries
25g icing sugar
500ml single cream
1 tin condensed milk (397g)
Dash vanilla essence or extract
Pinch salt

Method
1. In a medium bowl, add the berries and icing sugar. Mix them together and leave to sit for 20 minutes. This will allow the natural juices to come out from the berries.

2. In another bowl, whisk the the cream until stiff-peak stage. To this add the condensed milk and salt and whisk again.

3. Using the back of a kitchen fork, begin to mush and break down the berries.

4. Fold the berry mix into the cream and spoon this into a 2lb loaf tin and place in the freezer overnight.

5. Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before you wish to serve. Simply scoop into wafer cones and enjoy.

Tip: If you line the 2lb tin with a double layer of clingfilm, you can de-mould the frozen ice-cream and serve it in slices as a mixed berry terrine for dessert.