Irresistible Ice Cream Recipes

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com
Updated July 22, 2020

We've got ice cream recipes you'll love, from easy no-churn creations to beautiful ice cream cakes and recipes for ice cream freezers.

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No-Churn Blueberry Ice Cream

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Pure. Violet. Joy. The intense color comes from simmering the berries for a few minutes to release their juices-but after that step, this brightly fruity no-special-gear-required recipe couldn't be more simple. 

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Sour Cream and Brown Sugar Frozen Custard

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It looks like ordinary vanilla, but the addition of brown sugar and sour cream lends subtle caramel and tangy notes that will have your friends asking, "What's in this ice cream?" 

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Blackberry and Goat Milk Gelato

Credit: Blaine Moats
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Chef Katharine Elder's stunning gelato gets zippy flavors from Elderslie Farm goat milk and blackberry puree. Instant nonfat dry milk is one of those secret ingredients that helps stabilize frozen treats for ultra-creamy results.

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Chocolate Milkshake

Credit: Brie Passano
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Using the best chocolate and ice cream you can find ensures a super rich shake. You won't want more than a small glass!

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No-Churn Lemon Bar Ice Cream

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True to the easy no-churn spirit, this burst of summer sunshine requires no stovetop cooking or baking: Just stir in purchased lemon curd and crumbled vanilla Oreos.

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Mini Peach Melba Ice Cream Cake

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Crystallized ginger adds unexpected zip to frosty peaches, raspberries and ice cream.

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No-Churn Peanut Brittle Ice Cream

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This ice cream is dead-simple, but plan to make it a day ahead: The salty peanut butter slows down the freezing. It's soft but edible at 8 hours, fully scoopable at 24.

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Ice Cream Chocolate Shell

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This super-easy homemade ice cream topping doesn't harden quite as fast as that magical store-bought stuff, but it packs a lot more chocolate flavor. Plus, it's totally customizable with different flavors of chips! Store it in the pantry to zap in the microwave whenever you want to crack your spoon into something delicious.

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Date Shake

Credit: Paul Lowe
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Made by blending dates into a vanilla milkshake, date shakes are a roadside icon in Palm Springs, California.

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Banana Split Ice Cream Torte

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A crust of crushed sugar cones holds two frosty layers: chocolate ice cream studded with chopped banana and strawberry ice cream bejeweled with pineapple.

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Mango Lassi Frozen Yogurt

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Inspired by the classic drink at Indian restaurants (and, conveniently, made with frozen mango), this subtly tangy churned fro-yo is laced with cardamom and gets a golden boost from turmeric.

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S'more Outrageous Chocolate Milk Shakes

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 A cascade of chocolate syrup drizzled inside the glass adds drama to a chocolate chip cookie dough shake crowned with crushed grahams, mini chocolate chips and marshmallows. 

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Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

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The taste of childhood birthdays, encapsulated in one dessert. Yes, there are a lot of steps. But the ice cream is from the store. The batter is quick. And that classic fudgy crunch layer? Nailed it. To serve, just drizzle with hot fudge and pile on the whipped cream.

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Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Sundaes

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Quickly warm pineapple in butter and brown sugar, then spoon the softened fruit over crumbled pound cake and dulce de leche ice cream.

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Peanut Butter Oatmeal Biggies

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Our chewy, saucer-size cookie is delicious by itself, but for a warm-weather treat, it makes generous ice cream sandwiches when filled with tiny scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

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Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Sundae Cake

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Several states claim to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. Since the Buckeye State makes a good case, we created the Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Sundae Cake as a tribute to Ohio. Four layers of baked white cake get sandwiched in ice cream layers in favorite sundae flavors: strawberry, pineapple and chocolate-banana. A whipped topping frosting crowns the cherry-topped dessert.

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Mocha Floats

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The coffee-chocolate blend in this drink is refreshingly cool, especially when topped with scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Jana Beykirch of Pittsburg, Kansas, doubles this recipe to make a summer punch. The amounts we give will make about 10 individual floats.

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Peach Ice Cream

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A combination of pureed and chopped peaches gives this ice cream nice color and fruit flecks. Be sure to use half-and-half or light cream; if you substitute whole milk, the mixture will be icier.

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Root Beer Float Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Stirring crushed root beer barrels into sugar-cookie dough adds irresistible sparkle and spot-on float flavor-especially when you add scoops of vanilla ice cream between two cooled cookies.

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Choose-a-Fruit Ice Cream

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Here's one recipe with three fruit versions to choose from: blackberry, raspberry or peach. For our photo, we made one of each, froze them in 15x10x1 inch pans lined with foil, then cut them into geometric shapes to stack. We topped them with purchased fruit sauce.

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Blueberry Sauce

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Whip up this sweet and juicy sauce for the perfect ice cream or pie topping.

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Make-Ahead Ice Cream Sandwich Sundaes

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You can make the ice cream sandwiches up to a week before you serve them; just freeze the sandwiches in an airtight container. When it's time to eat, just take a few minutes to heat up the sauce for this treat.

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Sweet Cream Goat Milk Gelato

Credit: Blaine Moats
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At Elderslie Farm in Kansas, Katharine Elder infuses her gelato with edible blossoms (such as peony, black locust or lilac), but it's also delicious plain---rich, creamy, lightly "goaty," and nicely salted.

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Triple-Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

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Layer ice cream with a mixture of cookie crumbs, chocolate pieces and pecans to make this striped frozen dessert.

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Praline Sauce

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Sweet and nutty, this rich sauce is best served warm over ice cream or yogurt.

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Vanilla Cake Batter Ice Cream

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Cake and ice cream go together like peanut butter and jelly-so why not combine them in one sweet scoop?

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Ice Cream Cookie Cake

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We created Ice Cream Cookie Cake in honor of Indiana, the top ice cream-producing state in the Midwest. You can mix and match cookies and ice cream to make this frosty, no-bake treat that's also an easy make-ahead dessert.

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Fresh-Fruit Ice Cream Sodas

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Puree berries, peaches or mangoes to make vibrant "syrups" for swirling with ice cream and sparkling water. (Or skip the ice cream to make refreshing fresh-fruit sodas.)

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Raspberry Ripple with Oat Crunch Ice Cream

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We won't lie: This recipe takes some effort. But if you're willing to commit to a longish weekend cooking session, you won't be disappointed. It's absolutely delicious.

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Homemade Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream

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The vanilla ice cream recipe uses just four ingredients for a rich homemade dessert. If you prefer chocolate, stir in 1 cup chocolate-flavored syrup before freezing. These vanilla and chocolate ice creams are the base for variations on the following slides.

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Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sauce

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Chocolate and peanut butter were meant to go together! Spoon this sauce over ice cream, puddings or waffles for an indulgent treat.

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DIY Dip Cones

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A dip cone made with good-quality vanilla ice cream, bittersweet chocolate and salted pecans is a revelation-both nostalgic and completely new. But that's just our favorite. Pretzels? Pistachios? You do you.

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Heavenly Hash Ice Cream

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A close relative to Rocky Road, Heavenly Hash has marshmallow creme, almonds and chocolate chunks swirled into a fudgy, churned chocolate base.

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Flamm's Peach Ice Cream

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Flamm Orchards is a major peach producer in southern Illinois. The Flamm family likes to churn peach ice cream on the Fourth of July. The whole group gets involved in ice cream prep, then eating.

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Ice Cream Waffle Sundaes

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This treat, which starts with giant waffle ice cream cones, is easy to make but impressive to serve. It's a sweet ending for any special dinner.

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Black Walnut Ice Cream

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Staff at Silver Dollar City churn dozens of ice cream flavors at Hannah's Ice Cream Factory. For a sweeter ice cream, use more sugar. Look for black walnut flavoring, which pairs with nuts to give this cool treat its flavor, in large supermarkets.

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