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This light and refreshing Lemon Ice Cream is perfect enjoyed by itself or use it to top your favorite fruit crisp or cobbler for an amazing flavor twist.
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Ice Cream
I am a huge ice cream fan and it is usually my dessert of choice.
As you know one of my other loves is lemon so coming up with the perfect lemon ice cream was a pretty big priority for me. I think I may have found it.
The perfect ice cream needs to have just the right amount of lemon. It can’t be too tart or too sweet. It needs to be just right, and this one is just that.
Ingredients Needed
- Lemons. You will use the juice and the zest.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Milk. You will need heavy whipping cream and whole milk for the best results.
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
Tips from Leigh Anne
- The base for this ice cream is a cooked custard because there are eggs in the recipe. You will need to plan ahead with this ice cream as the ice cream base needs to be cooked and then cooled before churning into ice cream.
- I always use real, fresh squeezed lemon juice for the best flavor.
- I usually allow my ice cream to harden up in the freezer a while before serving. You can serve it right after processing though if you can’t wait, it will just be more soft serve like.
How to Make Lemon Ice Cream
- Combine the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest and one cup of milk.
- Cook over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. After cooking the mixture you may want to pour it through a strainer to remove the lemon rind and any pieces of egg that might not have gotten mixed in. There are times when I don’t do this though and my ice cream always turns out great.
- After straining put it in the refrigerator to chill.
- After it has chilled, just process according to the directions of your ice cream maker.
- Place ice cream into freezer after it has processed to allow it to set up and harden a bit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stored in an airtight, insulated ice cream container it will last for a couple of weeks.
This homemade ice cream recipe is designed to be made in an ice cream maker and is not meant to be a no churn ice cream.
I use a Cuisinart 2 qt. ice cream maker. I then transfer the ice cream into this insulated ice cream container to let the ice cream harden up. For photo purposes I used an old bread pan above!
For other yummy ice cream recipes try these:
Lemon Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a pan mix together zest, juice, sugar and eggs.
- Add in 1 cup whole milk and vanilla.
- Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a simmer.
- Strain through a sieve to remove zest if desired..
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
- Add in whipping cream and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.
Tips & Notes:
- Recipe makes 1 quart of lemon ice cream.
- The base for this ice cream is a cooked custard because there are eggs in the recipe. You will need to plan ahead with this ice cream as the ice cream base needs to be cooked and then cooled before churning into ice cream.
- I usually allow my ice cream to harden up in the freezer a while before serving. You can serve it right after processing though if you can’t wait, it will just be more soft serve like.
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Nutrition Facts:
Originally posted July 3, 2013
Jen says
Thanks so much for this recipe. I’m overwhelmed with lemons right now so made this ice cream and it is amazing!
Cath says
Awesome recipe! I am tasting the delicious end result as I type this comment. I also almost doubled the amount.
My variation was to substitute sugar with honey and maple syrup, used exclusively heavy 45% cream and added 5 more egg yolks to 3 whole eggs. I also left the zest and used 1 cup of lemon juice.
This is the best lemon ice cream I ever tasted in my life!
Thanks for this super recipe.
Madeline Jones says
Leigh, this recipe is the boom!!!!!! It was delicious. This was my first time making homemade ice cream with my new Cuisinart 2-quart Pure Indulgence ice cream maker. Also, it was my first time eating lemon ice cream. I made it at the request of my husband who had not had it since his childhood. It goes very well with 7-up pound cake. Thank you for sharing. I plan to make it on a regular basis in the summer.
Leigh Anne says
So glad you loved it too! It would be perfect with cake. Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it.
Rosemary says
Will this work just putting into a container in the freezer and stirring every thirty minutes? Also do you think it would work with lime juice? If not I totally understand 🙂
Leigh Anne says
Rosemary, I think it would totally work with lime juice and be delicious. As far as stirring every thirty minutes. It might work but you would get a different consistency.
Nancy Pecor says
We made it last night in our old hand crank ice cream freezer. Yum! It was a big hit, we should have doubled the batch! 5 people all gone…
I will make this again. But hand cranking is hard work, everyone had a turn We used one regular lemon and one Meyer, tasted great!
Leigh Anne says
Nancy, I love making ice cream in an old fashioned hand crank. I think it tastes better!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.