no churn chocolate chip ice cream

The simplest of sweet, cool summer treats, inspired by my mom.

A good while back I asked my mom about her three favorite ice cream flavors. Turns out, her tastes aren’t complicated: I don’t remember the third, but chocolate chip and plain ole chocolate sat in the upper rankings. I guess I wasn’t totally surprised by her humble selections. Sometimes the best things just aren’t overembellished.

And I agree. My absolute favorite ice cream of all time was Haagen Dazs’ vanilla fudge swirl, which was discontinued when I was a wee lass. I was devastated. My mom didn’t buy it all the time for me but when she did, I was the happiest little shit. Then it vanished. Like a lot of good brands’ products do over time, when apparently cult fandom isn’t enough.

I see a lot of ice creams floating around social media, and many of them are rather elaborate. Nothing wrong with that. But if you’re newer to making your own ice creams, or also don’t really care for too many flavors gasping down your tongue at once, this No Churn Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is a great place to start. J and I have enjoyed a cone each afternoon since I officially deemed it ready to eat.

For this bro, you only need four ingredients, plus cones if you like them, and an optional but really simple magic shell to add a little oomph to each serving. I also dip the cones in the shell, too, for a nice extra bit of chocolatey goodness. Couldn’t be easier. No need for a fancy ice cream maker or weird salts or extra cleanup – except for the inevitable heavy cream splatter, which is a nice lead in to the recipe process.

Ahoy!

Keep Your Cream to Yourself

I don’t know how many food folks like to talk about the cleanup side of some recipes, but I’m not here to lead you into delusion, fellas. So here’s the reality: whipping large amounts of heavy cream at once is fucking messy. If you don’t use protection, you will get cream everywhere.

Heh.

So, be prepared to get showered in whipping cream as you make this recipe, unless you have an unusually gargantuan mixer and mixing bowl. There’s kinda no way around it. Heavy cream needs to be whipped vigorously or else you’ll be hunched in front of your bowl twiddling your thumbs for much longer than you need to be.

My advice for this? Invest in a screen for your stand mixer or throw a towel you don’t care about or plastic wrap over the contraption to catch the flyaways. I went the towel route.

All that aside, the rest really is seamless! Whip up lots of heavy cream until you get stiff peaks (will kinda look like the crap that comes out of aerosol). Mix in a can of sweetened condensed milk, lots of vanilla extract, and a touch of salt.

Finish by folding in your mini chocolate chips. I like mini because you get more bang for your proverbial buck. Pour the cream into a 9 x 5 inch bread pan, smoothing out the top with a spatula, and sprinkle with extra chocolate chips you wish. I wished, so I did.

Then, cover with foil and fling that pan in the freezer. 4 hours at bare minimum, overnight or longer is best.

Theeeee Magic Shell!

I don’t wanna cause no hell,

But can I eat your magic shell?

You don’t need to dip your ice cream cones in shell – heck, you don’t even need to use cones, you can go the bowl route, too – but it’s a little special touch that’ll motivate you to enjoy a serving on these hot days. Not that you need much motivation. Extra incentive?

The magic shell is just chocolate chips (I use dark, semi-sweet is alright, too!) and coconut oil. Melt them together in the microwave until nice and smooth, and let it cool a little bit. Sometimes I throw in a little instant espresso for a lil kick.

If you want to make the cones, prep a wire cooling rack by placing a piece of parchment beneath it. Dip the mouth of the cone in your shell, letting excess drizzle off, then stick into the wire rack so it’s standing upright with the dipped part facing up. Repeat with however many cones you want. I let them set for about 10 minutes to harden – if you carefully put the rack in the fridge, this will expedite the process since coconut oil hardens quickly in the cold.

Scoop out your preferred serving size of ice cream and drizzle as much shell as you desire overtop.

Ugh. So yummy, easy, and quick. I enjoyed a cone this afternoon and now that I’m writing about it, want another one.

Tell me: What are your favorite flavors of ice cream? Maybe you’ll see a version pop up in the coming weeks!

Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!

Quell those chocolate cravings:

Coffee Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Doughnuts

Hot Chocolate Brownies

Better than Bakery Chocolate Chip Muffins