Patriotic No Churn Ice Cream

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. I feel so blessed to live in our great country and to celebrate our freedom. We have had so many great men and women fight for and defend our freedom! I also love the family time, parades, and fireworks that go along with the Fourth of July. I very much like being outside, and the Fourth is a great time to do lots of outdoor activities.

Today to celebrate, my family and I went to the parade first thing this morning. My oldest enjoyed watching the fire trucks, the neat old cars, and seeing Captain America. He likes balloons and “blows” (this is what he calls pinwheels), and there was a car that had lots of both. He was so excited! Even my tiny guy seemed to enjoy seeing all the different sights of the parade. After the parade, we went over to my mom and dad’s house to enjoy some pool time and outdoor fun. Supper was a big gathering of lots and lots of food. When our family all gets together it always seems like we make too much food, but to be honest, I love it. I enjoy trying out new recipes, and tasting all the delicious goodies everyone else has made. One of the new recipes I tried was a  “No Churn Ice Cream”. I’ve seen lots of different no churn ice cream recipes, but I had found this particular one on Pinterest awhile back. You’ll find the original post here: http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2016/06/20/red-white-blue-ice-cream-fourth-july.html. I have been wanting to try it, so was ready to give it a go when the Fourth rolled around. It was so simple and quick to make! It honestly makes me want to make more varieties of the recipe. If you’re like me, you love homemade ice cream, but haven’t splurged yet to buy an ice cream maker, so you hardly ever eat homemade ice cream. This recipe is a way to have your homemade ice cream with very little effort, and you don’t have to buy an ice cream maker. Bonus!!

My amazing hubby sent me with my family to watch fireworks last night while he made the cupcakes for the ice cream. I whipped up the cream mixture, and started crumbling the cupcakes into the batter. I honestly think you could choose whatever colors you want depending on what you’re celebrating. I think maybe some spring colors for Easter or browns and greens for a camouflage look would be really neat. You could be creative with this! However, I felt like having 8 cupcakes was a little too many cupcakes. Next time I’ll try 6 total cupcakes.

My leftover cupcakes. We ended up just eating them!

 

I would suggest using a large bowl to mix all the ingredients together. I used a medium/large bowl, but once I added in the crumbled cupcakes, it almost overflowed. Just be sure to gently mix in the cupcakes so your mixture stays light and fluffy.

Super full bowl! Definitely need to use a bigger bowl next time.

Once you have it all mixed in together, pour the ice cream into a shallow bowl. I wasn’t sure how much it would make, but after it almost overflowed my mixing bowl, I knew I would need a bigger pan. My original plan was to put it into a bread pan. I still could have, but it would have filled at least two bread pans. I wanted it all in one pan, so I used my Deep Dish Baker from Pampered Chef. It worked out well since the stoneware is able to be frozen (just make sure you never put frozen stoneware straight into a hot environment, including being run under hot water, when it’s cold. This will shock your stoneware and break it). My hubby and I decided the final mixture looked like Captain Crunch Berries in milk.

Mixture poured into the pan. Ready to go into the freezer.

We froze our ice cream overnight, and kept it in the freezer all day before supper tonight. When we scooped it up, it was so pretty! I love seeing the different colors swirled inside the ice cream.

Pretty swirls of red and blue! Looks like fireworks!

The kids ate the ice cream as their special snack this afternoon. They had been playing in the pool, so it was nice for them to take a little break from the sun and enjoy a treat. They all gave it rave reviews, and told me I should make it again. After supper, the adults enjoyed it as well. We all agreed it’s a keeper recipe! I hope you all enjoy your delicious treat as much as we did! What are some of your traditions or favorite things you do to celebrate the 4th of July?

 

 

Patriotic No Churn Ice Cream

• 1 box white cake mix (plus eggs, oil, and water to make the cake)
• Red & Blue food coloring (or whatever color you chose)
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix your cake according to the directions on the box. Separate your batter into two bowls. Use your food coloring to make half of the batter red and the other half blue. Bake in cupcake pan for 20-25 minutes.

While your cupcakes are baking, mix your heavy whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. In another bowl, mix sweetened condensed milk, milk, and vanilla until combined. Pour this mixture into the whipped cream and gently fold together until mostly combined, being careful not to deflate your cream. Crumble in 4 red cupcakes and 4 blue cupcakes. (I would do less cupcakes next time I make it. Maybe 3 of each color would be better). Reserve other cupcakes for another use. Gently fold in the crumbled cupcakes. Pour into a shallow dish and freeze for at least 6 hours.