Homemade Ice Cream Bars
These irresistible soft, smooth, creamy, homemade ice cream bars are perfect for a hot summer’s day. Easy to make and no churning required.
It’s summer, it’s boiling hot and there’s nothing better than an ice cream to cool things down. The middle is made up of a soft creamy centre, then a yummy flavour layer such as: Nutella, passion fruit, raspberry, coffee, salted caramel, blueberry, peanut or Biscoff to name a few. Then they are dipped into chocolate and covered in any multitude of toppings. I have used nuts, chocolate and biscuits, but the fun part is the options are endless!
They are great for making ahead and having at hand in the freezer!
If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂
RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS
- EASE: easy, using just six ingredients and no churning required.
- FREE FROM: this recipe is gluten-free. For vegan options, please refer to my substitutions section.
- GREAT FOR: fun making with kids, no-bake, BBQ, friends and family visiting.
- TASTE & TEXTURE: a light, soft, smooth creamy ice cream, with a multitude of fillings and decoration ideas.
- QUANTITY: 4 x 90ml ice creams.
- TIME: 2 hours 10 minutes, plus 2 hours freezing.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
INGREDIENTS
For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:
- Whipping or double cream – is high in fat and will help make this ice cream deliciously smooth and creamy.
- Sweetened condensed milk – is cow’s milk which has had around 60% of the water removed and sweetened with sugar to create a thick custard like cream.
- Evaporated milk – is in fact almost the same as condensed milk without the addition of sugar, but because of its high concentration of milk solids, it helps to give ice cream that rich, smooth, creamy, custardy texture and taste.
- Vanilla paste – adds a delicious flavour and enhances the other ingredient flavours.
– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.
- Fillings – with so many to choose from, take a look at my recipe and the variations section for ideas.
- Chocolate – is used to dip the ice creams in and give them that classic magnum look.
Chocolate recommendations: bars – Lindt Excellence dark 70% bar 100g, Montezuma’s darkside 51% bar 90g, Menier dark cooking chocolate 100g, Green and Black’s Organic dark Chocolate 100g, 1kg bags – Callebaut dark chocolate, Callebaut milk chocolate, Callebaut white chocolate.
TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your sweet creations. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bring out the best characteristics of the recipe. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouth’s ability to taste sweetness. Sodium sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue, triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds.
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.
SUBSTITUTIONS
While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.
VEGAN OPTIONS
- Cream: I recommend the Coconut Collaborative double cream or Elmlea plant based double cream.
- Condensed milk: I recommend Natures Charm coconut condensed milk and Carnation Condensed oat milk.
- Evaporated suggestion: I recommend Natures Charm evaporated oat milk. Most can be found in large supermarkets and online.
- Chocolate: There are now quite a few brands making vegan chocolate to choose from, such as these bars – Lindt classic milk chocolate, Ombar 55% coco mylk, Ombar 72% dark chocolate, Happi plain oat milk, Happi white chocolate, Montezuma’s Fitzroy 74% dark cocoa.
WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?
Here are a few other flavour ideas:
- Extra dark – add two tablespoons of cocoa powder to the ice cream mixture and dip in dark chocolate.
Cocoa recommendations: Dr. Oetker fine dark cocoa powder or not as dark – Sevenhills wholefoods organic cacao powder
- Mint – use a dark chocolate coating, and add mint extract to the ice cream base.
- Coffee – heat half the evaporated milk and add one teaspoon of instant coffee powder to it prior to mixing with the other ingredients in the ice cream base.
- Spices – try adding 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg to the ice cream base.
- Citrus – for a bit of zing, add finely zested lemon, lime, or orange to the ice cream base. Alternatively, citrus oils are great for this.
If you experiment, Please leave a comment at the bottom of the post – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing how you got on and I regularly update these posts and the feedback I receive helps to make the recipes even more useful.
NUTRITION
Serving: one ice cream
Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.
I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.
I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
STORAGE AND FREEZING
Freezing: These homemade magnum ice creams can conveniently be stored in the freezer and taken out as you want to enjoy them. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Here is a list of some kitchen tools that I use and recommend for this recipe.
This is one machine that I use almost everyday. I find its multifunctional abilities very useful. I can use it to mix batters or cream liquids together and because its small I can use it to ground nuts and make fruit puree.
I think I have said it before that I am not a big fan of plastic, so I like this type of glass measuring jug for calculating my liquids.
If you don’t have a hand blender then this is the kind of machine you need. I have to admit that it is probably the least used machine in the kitchen, but its handy for large quantities of liquids such as soups, puree or ice cream.
These are easy to use moulds that make you look lie a pro at ice cream making.
Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.
RECIPE TIPS
When making the ice cream – I like to use a measuring jug as it can be used to pour out easily into the moulds and keeps the washing-up down to a minimum. I also find using a stick blender is ideal for whisking the cream and combining all the other ingredients together.
Whisking the ice cream base and why it’s important – We want the ice crystals during freezing to be as small as possible, the bigger the crystals the more grainy the texture. Ensuring we get as much air into the cream prior to freezing will give us that ultimate creamy texture we all love in ice cream.
Why we use condensed milk – We want to keep the water content down to a bear minimum, to avoid large ice crystals forming as mentioned above. Hence we use products like cream and condensed milk which have high fat content and break down more easily.
Why we use vanilla paste and not extracts – is down to minimising the water content as mentioned previously above.
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Homemade Ice Cream Bars
- 1 ice cream mould
INGREDIENTS LIST
Ice cream base
- 120 g whipping or double cream
- 60 g sweetened condensed milk
- 60 g evaporated milk
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla paste (avoid extracts – see notes)
Chocolate coating
- 400 g dark or milk chocolate (dark, milk or white)
Fruit coulis
- 120 g fresh or frozen fruit of choice (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries)
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Salted caramel
- 100 g caster sugar
- 50 g butter
- 100 g double cream (US: heavy cream)
- 2 pinches fine sea salt
Other filling options
- 4 piece passion fruit (1 per ice cream)
- 100 g Nutella (25g per ice cream)
- 100 g biscoff spread
- 100 g peanut butter
Preparation
- Place the ice cream mould on a tray that fits into your freezer. If you are going to use a coulis or caramel to flavour your ice cream then start to prepare these following the instructions further down. If you're going to use Nutella, Biscoff spread, peanut butter or passion fruit add 2-3 tablespoons of filling to the bottom of each mould and then place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Fruit coulis: To a small saucepan, add the fruit and sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. The mixture will begin to boil, turn it down to medium heat. Continue to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring the mixture often. Once the fruit has broken down and softened, turn off the heat – this will take a few minutes longer if using frozen fruits. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and pulse until it reaches a smooth sauce consistency. You can also use a stick blender. Strain the mixture through a strainer into a pouring jug and add 2-3 tablespoons of filling to the bottom of each mould and then place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Salted caramel sauce: Place the sugar into a medium large saucepan. Place the pan on over a low heat. Allow the sugar to melt, this will take around 5 minutes. When all of the sugar has melted and is a golden amber colour, add the butter and stir to combine. Then add the cream, being careful as it will steam and bubble. Stir the mixture until smooth and then remove from the heat to cool.Once cooled, add 2-3 tablespoons of filling to the bottom of each mould and then place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Ice cream: In a measuring jug or mixing bowl, whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Then add the condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla paste. Blitz until smooth and creamy. You may want to scrape down the sides of the jug with a spatula throughout the process to make sure everything gets blended evenly.
- Remove the mould from the freezer and insert the wooden lolly sticks. Fill the moulds with the ice cream mix and transfer to the freezer for 3-4 hours, until completely set.
- Coating: Once frozen, carefully remove the ice-creams from their moulds and place them back into the freezer on a tray lined with parchment paper until ready to coat.Melt the chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl over a small pan of simmering water (double boiler). Pour the melted chocolate in to a tall glass and dip each ice cream in it. At this stage they can be decorated with chopped nuts, crushed biscuits or drizzled with melted chocolate.*It is likely that there will be additional chocolate left over at the end. Use it in another recipe or place it on a lined baking sheet and decorate with nuts and seeds to make a chocolate bark.
- Put the ice creams back on the tray to set in the freezer for 10 minutes before serving or store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Notes & Tips
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I just made this for my spouse who loves ice cream bars. Mine were similar silicone molds that each held about 50 mL. They were DELICIOUS.
I opted for the coffee ice cream, used a fancy Nutella filling, and sprinkled bits of hazelnut on the outside. I only ended up using a heaping tablespoon of filling and I had enough but maybe I’d use more for a fruit filling. I used oat-based evaporated and sweetened condensed milk to make it vegan and the filling was perfect. I had just enough for all four. The only thing I wished I had done was heat up the chocolate more or thin it out ever so slightly because my coating came out a little thick and difficult to bite into right away, but I think if the chocolate is hot enough it will drip off to make the layer just right. Even so, the ice cream bars were ready to eat just a few minutes outside of the freezer. Act fast for any decorative toppings that need to stick to the chocolate shell!
Spouse LOVED them. Can’t wait to experiment more, especially with the fruit. Thanks for this recipe! All your tips and variations are so helpful!
I love that you experimented a little and they came out so well. Thanks for your feedback its always great to hear.
Great ratio for the ice cream part. I’ve done a handful of recipes and this is by far the best one, My pure vanilla extract didn’t give me any problems, it was very creamy, but i think I’d like to try and find some of the paste variety, i’ve never used that before, or seen it? I also did the condensed sweetened milk cans in a crock pot of water for some dulce de leche. I painted it on half my bars.. should have done all of them, it was too good.. i might do a swirl thing with it next time. My chocolate coating ratio is 180g dark chocolate +30 ml coconut oil for that real nice crisp shell and nice shine. These are dangerous to have in my freezer.
Hi Hannah, Thanks for the feedback and it sounds like they came out great. I might have to pop over and raid your freezer 😉