Know more about this
(or any other) subject?

Show off your know-how at Quamut Wiki.

Learn more with these titles from Barnes & Noble

Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More

Ice Cream (Williams-Sonoma Collection)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream

Churn, chill, enjoy.

Craving something cold and tasty? Break up with the ice cream man for good—homemade ice cream, gelato, sorbet, frozen yogurt, and other frozen desserts are easy and fun to conjure up in your own kitchen. Get the scoop on:

Ice cream makers and the other tools and equipment you need
The best ingredients and mix-ins to use, from nuts to fruit to chocolate
Recipes for classic favorites—vanilla ice cream, raspberry sherbet, and more

Basics of Frozen Desserts

Most frozen desserts are made by churning or agitating liquids and sugar in the presence of freezing temperatures. Frozen desserts fall into a few different categories, nearly all of which you can easily make in the home. With the right equipment and a few basic techniques under your belt, you’ll be able to make frozen desserts that are just as good as—if not better than—your favorite commercial brands.

Ice Cream

Desserts made from flavored ice have been popular in the West since the peak of ancient Roman civilization and appear to have arisen in China, the Middle East, and India as well. Ice cream as we know it today, though, wasn’t developed until the 18th century in Europe and the United States, and it wasn’t popularized until refrigeration became widespread in the early to mid-20th century.

Today’s ice creams are made by slowly churning a mixture of milk or cream, eggs, sugar, and flavorings (such as fruit, chocolate, or nuts) at freezing temperatures until the mixture transforms into a smoothly textured mass of tiny ice crystals. There are two basic varieties of ice cream:

French-style or custard-based: These types of ice cream are very rich and smooth. They are made by incorporating egg yolks and sugar into cream and/or milk before churning.
Philadelphia-style: This ice cream contains no eggs and is made simply by mixing together milk or cream with sugar. This process yields a less rich ice cream that is firmer and chewier than French-style ice cream.

Soft-Serve

Soft-serve ice cream contains twice as much air as conventional ice cream and is dispensed from a special machine that keeps the ice cream base just above freezing temperature until the machine’s release valve is pulled. The base is then quickly frozen and dispensed from the machine. The additional air and warmer serving temperature is what gives soft-serve ice cream its light texture and pronounced sweetness.

Unfortunately, true soft-serve ice cream is nearly impossible to make at home because most soft-serve machines are bulky and expensive—they’re made for restaurants and stores, not the home chef. The closest you can get to making this kind of ice cream at home is to use a conventional ice cream maker and to serve it before hardening it (see Ice Cream–Making Equipment).

Gelato

The Italian take on ice cream, gelato is thicker than French or Philadelphia-style ice cream and is usually less sweet. In Italy, the majority of gelato is made with milk and egg yolks and no cream. It is churned at a low speed to reduce the amount of air whipped into it, resulting in a uniquely dense and velvety product. Traditionally, gelato is also stored and served slightly warmer than American ice cream, a practice that produces a more intense flavor sensation on the tongue.

American Gelato

Whole milk in Italy tends to be richer than its American counterpart, so many gelato recipes in books published in the United States call for a mixture of milk and cream to approximate the fat content of Italian whole milk.

Sherbet and Sorbet

The distinction between sherbet and sorbet is the subject of much debate. The term “sherbet” comes from sharbat, a beverage made of sweetened fruit juice and water that originated in the Middle East. Today, sherbet usually refers to a churned mixture of fruit puree, water, sugar, and milk or cream.

Strictly speaking, “sorbet” is simply the French word for sherbet. Though some people use the two terms interchangeably, others consider sorbet to be a churned mixture of fruit puree, water, and sugar without any dairy products.

Frozen Yogurt

Similar in texture to soft-serve ice cream, frozen yogurt became a popular low-fat or nonfat alternative to ice cream in the 1980s. Most brands of frozen yogurt during this time were formulated to mimic the taste and texture of ice cream and were made with milk, gelatin, corn syrup, sugar, and only a small amount of yogurt.

More recently, companies have begun selling a tart style of frozen yogurt that’s more reminiscent of fresh yogurt and doesn’t try to mimic the smooth texture of ice cream. These types of frozen yogurts are often made with nothing but fresh yogurt, sugar, and natural flavorings such as fruit, spices, or green tea. Whole milk yogurt or thick, strained yogurt (such as Greek yogurt) is most common because it yields the smoothest and creamiest frozen yogurt.

Bacteria Cultures

Most fresh yogurt contains active bacteria cultures that aid in digestion and nutrient absorption. Studies suggest that these bacteria can also fortify the immune system. Although frozen yogurt companies have been eager to claim that their products offer the same health benefits as those of yogurt, bacteria cultures generally do not survive the freezing process unless great care is taken to make sure the temperature doesn’t drop too low, so be wary of these claims.

Granita

Granita is a coarse-textured, water-based dessert, originally from Sicily, that’s made from fruit puree or another liquid sweetened with sugar. Granita resembles shaved ice and is perhaps the easiest frozen dessert to make at home.

The unfrozen granita mixture is not churned in an ice cream machine but instead is poured into a shallow pan that’s placed in a freezer and then agitated with a fork every 20–30 minutes until the mixture becomes a mass of small ice crystals. The result is a refreshing dessert that’s lighter and icier than sorbet. Granita is typically scooped into a cup and is often topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Common flavors include lemon, coffee, almond, and orange.

Other Frozen Desserts

Other popular forms of frozen desserts include:

Semifreddo: Italian for “half-cold,” semifreddo features a frozen but unchurned ice cream base and is often served in molds.
Frozen custard: This variation of soft-serve ice cream is egg-based.
Water ices: These desserts are essentially sorbet bases that are frozen without being churned.