My great-aunt used to make a delicious frozen custard that did not require an ice-cream freezer, but unfortunately I don't know how she made it. I received an Oster ice-cream maker in 1976 that used ice cubes and regular table salt that was simple to use and was very small. It bit the dust recently. Two days ago, I bought the ice cream bowl attachment for my kitchen aid mixer. I hope it does as good a job as the old oster. It doesn't require any ice or salt, but I will have to store it in the freezer because it has to be super cold. The ingredients have to be chilled prior to making the ice cream, too. I'm not sure how convenient this will all be, but it's the route I took.

Jill

I have a hand crank maker, wanting one that could go to picnics etc where electricity wouldn't be available. I hadn't thought of it in years (basement) - we used it quite a bit for a while, but when children lost interest in the cranking, we served much less homemade ice cream :)

There are lots of sites online that basically describe this same method....You'd need a day to be at home to accomplish it:

Here is a link that might be useful: Ice cream, no ice cream maker

Yes, I have yet to do it but here is the link
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/homemade-ice-cream-in-a-bag-684806/

You can also do it the really old fashioned way -- the same method that has long been used to make sorbet. Just pour the mixture into a baking dish, and set that into your freezer. Also, you will need a heavy glass or metal bowl, an electric hand mixer, and a bowl of ice big enough for the first bowl to sit in. Put the heavy glass or metal bowl and the beater attachments for the hand mixer into the freezer at the same time as the ice cream mix to chill them.

When its almost but not quite fully frozen, use a fork to break it up into small lumps about the size of a nickle or a little less. Then put it back into the freezer about 10 minutes to set up a bit again.

Now, working as quickly as possible, take the pre-chilled heavy bowl out of the freezer,and set it in a bath of ice cubes in the 2nd larger bowl. Quickly transfer the ice cream mixture into the chilled bowl, and beat it as much as possible with the electric mixer ONLY until the lumps are broken up, and it begins to whip up a bit. Then, back into the freezer for another 15 to 30 minutes, until its not at all "melty" but still a little soft.

Repeat the beating/whipping process several times -- the idea is to whip as much air into it to make it creamy and fluffy as possible, without melting it too much at each whipping. The chilled bowl, the ice bath, and the chilled beaters help, but beware that the very act of beating it creates friction between the bowl and beaters, which makes heat, so this process is a balancing act between beating in air and melting the ice cream. Done right, which isn't at all hard to do with just a little practice, this method does work, albeit it will never be quite as fluffy as commercial ice creams you are used to, which not only incorporate a large volume of air into the mix using specialized equipment, but which also generally use gums and stabilizers which prevents the product from melting and turning liquid as fast as a pure, cream and milk only product will.

Good luck.

I know that Cooks Illustrated/Cooks Country developed a method for making vanilla or chocolate ice cream without and ice cream maker. Even though I decided to pay for an on-line membership to Cooks Illustrated, I can't access the recipes - apparently I need a premium membership. (Seriously - I already pay for the magazine, and the online membership - but still can't access all their recipes).

Anyway - I don't have time to go dig out my old magazine to find a recipe, but maybe if you run a google search for "Magic Vanilla Ice Cream" and Cooks Country - I'm willing to bet some blogger tried it and posted it in their blog. If you find the method they used, then you can probably adapt it to your own recipe.

Those hand-made methods all sound pretty complicated and lengthy! I'm saving my pennies for a Ninja food processor, and the info about it says it's also an ice cream maker. I'll have to think about that.

Pixie Lou, I actually found that recipe, but it's entirely different from the one I want to make - it requires chocolate, or white chocolate, and other things that I don't have. It looks good, though. I couldn't access the website recipe, either, but like you said, someone else had it posted on a blog.

I know this is an older post but maybe someone is still looking for an answer. Years ago when my 21 year old son was in preschool they made ice cream on the play ground. What they did was they used 2 coffee cans one small and one large. I know most coffee cans are now plastic but you can get cans at the hardware store that work. I have not tried the plastic they may work as well. In the smaller can they put the mixed up ice cream ingredients in and taped it closed with duct tape.They put some ice and rock salt in the bottom of the large can and set the smaller can inside. Then they filled it with more ice and rock salt. Then they duct taped the large one closed. The kids then just kicked can and rolled it all over the play ground. (Great gross motor activity for kids.) They checked it every now and then drained out the water and added more rock salt and ice as needed. It turned out soft and smooth and tasted really good. Hope this helps.