MiMi’s Vanilla Ice Cream

Thanks for sharing!

Rich, smooth creamy homemade vanilla ice cream is a perfect treat. It stands on its own as a great dessert and makes almost any pie, cake, cobbler, or crunch better. This recipe from MiMi is our favorite.

Homemade vanilla ice cream is a near perfect dessert. It is wonderful on its own, great with toppings and an enhancer to almost any other dessert. There is almost nothing it can’t make better!

MiMi has tried many recipes over the years, but this is the one she keeps going back to. It is smooth and delicious.

It scoops well and tastes great. My husband is a huge fan and is always excited with MiMi has homemade ice cream to offer up.

We originally shared the recipe back in 2015, but that was a long time ago. So most of you never knew the recipe was here, or if you did you have forgotten.

So I thought it was well past time to dig it up, take some new pictures and add a quick video showing the process. Not that it’s really necessary, the recipe is super simple to make.

But it is a great excuse to revisit this fabulous recipe and reshare it with you all. It is worth making, that is for sure!

This recipe is the base for so many other ice cream recipes we have made and enjoyed over the years. You can easily adjust it to make so many flavors.

Or you can start with this vanilla base and add candies, bits of cookies, brownies, nuts, chocolate chips or whatever else your heart desires. Just add the mix-ins when the churn time is basically done.

At that point the ice cream will still be soft enough that the bits will be easily incorporated, but solid enough to keep them suspended so they don’t all drop to the bottom. If you come up with the perfect combination, be sure to let me know about it so we can make it too!

Original post from July of 2015

MiMi is famous for her ice cream.  One summer a few years ago, she made a different batch of ice cream every day.  I mean really.  EVERY DAY!  

So she knows her way around an ice cream maker.  She tried every different type of recipe she could get her hands on. 

She loves to make her ice cream in the Kitchenaid attachment.  But you can use whatever ice cream maker you like best.

This is her favorite vanilla ice cream recipe.  She knows it by heart.  This is also the base she goes back to when she is making up something new and fun.

Why are there eggs in homemade ice cream?

The eggs do a few things to help your final ice cream’s texture. The eggs work as an emulsifier, which helps to keep the mixture homogeneous instead of the cream rising to the top.

Plus the egg yolks help to add a richness to the ice cream. They help to get that extra creamy texture.

We usually use super fresh eggs from my parents’ chickens and we have never had an issue. However using pasteurized eggs is the safest way to include the eggs.

You could leave the eggs out entirely, but it will change the texture of the ice cream. It will still taste amazing, it just won’t have quite the same mouthfeel.

You could also cook your base like a custard and then chill it before you add it to your ice cream maker. Do whatever you are most comfortable with.

Our favorite ice cream makers

MiMi has a couple Kitchenaid ice cream maker attachments for her stand mixer.  She loves them and makes all of her ice cream with them.

I recently got a cuisinart ice cream maker. You freeze the bowl ahead of using it much like the Kitchenaid attachment.

Both work great and are relatively affordable.  You just have to remember to get the bowl in the freezer in plenty of time to get it cold, but that is a whole lot better than making sure you have enough ice and salt on hand!

If the eggs in this recipe concern you, don’t despair, I have a great vanilla ice cream recipe without eggs as well. MiMi’s recipe is still our favorite but the egg free one is a close second.

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a review in the recipe card below!

Thanks for sharing!