You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! Happy National Ice Cream Month! In 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed a presidential order declaring July National Ice Cream Month.
According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the average American eats roughly 20 pounds of ice cream each year, or about four gallons. As the summer reaches peak temperatures in July, Americans celebrate National Ice Cream Month as a way to cool off and enjoy the nation’s favorite frozen treat with friends and family.
Ice cream has historically been a key feature of American communities. According to an IDFA survey, most ice cream companies are family owned and have been in operation for more than 50 years! Here’s more sweet news: Ice cream companies help support the U.S. economy, contributing more than $13 billion directly to the national economy and supporting nearly 29,000 direct jobs that generate $1.8 billion in direct wages, according to IDFA’s Dairy Delivers®. In 2021, ice cream makers in the U.S. churned out more than 1.3 billion gallons of ice cream.
There are enough homemade ice cream recipes on the internet to fill a shelf full of cookbooks. But if you really want to impress your guests, try serving one of these unique and weird ice cream flavors.
From jalapenos and corn to cheese and wine, here are five unique homemade ice cream flavors you can make for your guests!
Cheese & Wine Time Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy Real California Milk
Ingredients
4 oz good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 oz good-quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups whole Real California milk
1 cup Real California heavy cream
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
3 T Dutch-process cocoa powder
4 oz Real California Blue Cheese
4 oz port wine reduction (recipe below)
Method
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Melt the chocolates. Place the milk and dark chocolates in a medium heatproof metal or glass bowl. Bring a large skillet of water to a boil. Turn off the heat and set the bowl in the water. Leave the chocolate to melt gently, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the dairy.
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Heat the dairy, cocoa, sugar, and sweetened condensed milk. Place the milk, cream, sugar, condensed milk, and cocoa powder in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until smooth. Simmer for two minutes, then combine the chocolate and dairy mixture. Pour a ladleful of the hot dairy mixture into the melted chocolate and whisk until thoroughly combined. Add another ladleful and repeat whisking until you've added about half of the dairy mixture. Add the remaining dairy mixture and whisk to combine.Chill the ice cream base completely. Leave the ice cream base on an ice water bath, stirring occasionally, until completely chilled, about 20 minutes.
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Churn the ice cream base. Transfer the ice cream base to the bowl of the ice cream machine. Churn until the base has thickened to a consistency somewhere between a very thick milkshake and soft-serve ice cream. 20 to 35 minutes — check the instructions for your particular machine. Then add the blue cheese and port wine reduction to base and freeze until solid, about four hours.
Ingredients for Port Wine Reduction
½ bottle pinot noir red wine
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Method
Combine half a bottle of pinot noir red wine with ½ cup of white sugar, and vanilla extract, together in a saucepan; simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce reduces, about 30 minutes.
Buffalo Wing Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy Beck Low, the Dairy Council of Utah/Nevada
Ingredients
8 ea. egg yolks (or 4 large eggs)
⅓ cup light corn syrup
1 cup buttermilk
⅔ cup sugar
Pinch kosher salt
2 cups whipping cream
¾ cup crumbled blue cheese
3 T buffalo wing sauce (like Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce)
Celery sticks and/or saltine crackers, optional garnish
Method
- Beat egg yolks and corn syrup until light and lemon colored; set aside.
- Combine buttermilk, sugar, pinch of salt, and cream in heavy bottom saucepan. Place pan over medium heat; stir until sugar is dissolved and milk and cream becomes steamy (almost to a boil, about 4-6 minutes). Remove from heat. While stirring egg yolks, pour a thin stream of hot milk cream into eggs to temper (about ½ cup hot mixture). Gradually pour tempered eggs back into the pan with remaining milk and cream. Return pan to medium heat and continue to stir and cook an additional 3-5 minutes or until mixture slightly thickens and coats the back of a spoon (rub finger across the back of the spoon and a trail will remain; reaches 170 degrees temperature). Do not let the custard boil. Remove from heat.
- Add vanilla. Pour into a large bowl or other container to cool completely (4-24 hours).
- Place in ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. When ice cream begins to thicken add crumbled blue cheese and finish freezing. When frozen, scoop into a well chilled container, swirl in buffalo wing sauce, and place in freezer for two hours to cure. Makes about 1½ quarts and serves 6-8.
- Serve with a stick of fresh celery and/or saltine crackers.
Cheddar Apple Pie Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin
Ingredients for Cheddar Ice Cream
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 ea. vanilla bean, seeds scraped
6 ea. large egg yolks, room temperature
8 oz Henning's Sharp White Cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Method
- Warm cream and milk in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to 175°F; stir in sugar until dissolved. Add vanilla bean seeds.
- Whisk ⅓ cup of hot cream mixture into egg yolks in a bowl. Return all to saucepan, whisking constantly. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160°F and is just thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 10-15 minutes. (Do not boil.) Remove from the heat.
- Add the cheddar, vanilla and salt; stir until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour custard through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Place bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice water. Stir until custard has cooled to room temperature, about two to four minutes. Remove from the ice water. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard. Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.
Ingredients for Pie Crust
1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry
1 ea. large egg
1 T water
2 T sugar
Method
Heat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll pie pastry on prepared baking sheet. Combine egg and water; brush egg wash on pastry. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack. Break crust into small pieces.
Ingredients for Caramel Apples
4 T butter, cubed
½ cup light brown sugar
4 ea. large apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
⅛ tsp salt
1 T cornstarch
1 T lemon juice
Method
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Add the apples, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Cook and stir until apples are crisp-tender, about 8-10 minutes. Combine cornstarch and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to skillet. Cook and stir one to two minutes longer or until caramel has thickened. Remove from the heat. Transfer apple mixture to a bowl. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate.
- Pour custard into an ice cream maker, two-thirds full. Freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Refrigerate any remaining custard until ready to freeze.
- Transfer ice cream to a large bowl. Fold in pie crust pieces and apple mixture. Spoon ice cream into freezer containers. Freeze for at least four hours before serving. Repeat steps with any remaining custard.
Holy Jalapeno Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy Real California Milk
Ingredients
3 ea. ears of corn
1 T grapeseed oil
1 ¾ cup Real California heavy cream, divided
2 cups Real California milk, separated
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
Pinch of salt
4 ea. egg yolks
Method
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Make jalapeno simple syrup by adding 2 cups of turbinado sugar and 1 cup of water to a saucepan over medium-high heat and stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Slice jalapenos lengthwise and add to the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, and simmer for three minutes. Remove from heat and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the pepper.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Cut the kernels off the ears of corn. Mix ¼ cup sugar and oil along with the kernels and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the cobs on the parchment paper for roasting also.
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Bake for 20 minutes, mixing halfway to allow the corn to cook evenly. Turn on broiler and move the corn below the boiler to toast until golden brown. About 10 minutes. Remove from broilers.
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Place kernels into a blender. Add 1 cup milk into the blender. Blend until pureed. Place remaining ingredients except the egg yolks into a saucepan. Heat until it comes to a light simmer. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl.
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Slowly pour the warm mixture into the eggs while continuing to beat the eggs until all the mixture is incorporated. Transfer the mixture into a clean saucepan and cook until the mixture has reached 180 degrees.
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Remove and let cool to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator to cool overnight. Churn according to ice cream maker’s instructions.
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Place in the freezer for about 4 hours before serving.
Avocado Chocolate Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy Florida Dairy Farmers
Ingredients
2 ea. ripe avocados, pits removed and flesh scooped out
2 cups of heavy cream
1 Cup of half & half
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 T pure honey
½ cup white sugar
Juice of half of a lime
⅓ cup of chopped chocolate
Method
- In a blender, add all of the ingredients except the chopped chocolate. Blend until fully mixed. Note: The mixture will create a whipped cream texture.
- With a rubber spatula, pour the mixture into a bowl and mix in the chopped chocolate.
- Follow the directions of your ice cream machine to complete the ice cream.
- Once completed, place in the freezer in a sealed plastic container with a lid.
Notes:
- No ice cream machine? No problem! Place in a plastic container and freeze for a minimum of 2 hours.
- End product will be a creamy light avocado ice cream. Serve and garnish with edible flowers or mint, and chocolate shavings.
- More options: Add after blending ice cream: raisins, chopped mint, almonds, walnuts or chocolate chips.
