This popcorn ice cream recipe is from the book Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree, reproduced with permission from the publisher.

This popcorn ice cream recipe is from the book Hello, My Name is Ice Cream (from Amazon) by Dana Cree. I “settled” on the popcorn ice cream recipe on page 92 because it’s not made from egg yolks like I am accustomed to. This recipe makes a different style of ice cream, an egg-less ice cream called Philadelphia style ice cream!

Ingredients for Philadelphia style ice cream

Philadelphia ice creams are not thickened with egg yolks the way crème anglaise-based ice cream is. Instead this recipe is made from just cream, milk, sugars, and a stabilizer:

• Milk and cream, preferably 2 % fat or even 3.25 % fat whole milk and whipping cream with 35 % fat. You can play with the amount of fat in this recipe, but less fat will have an impact on the final texture and flavour. The ice cream may taste a little more watery with less fat.
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar because it won’t interfere with the delicate flavour of the mint. Don’t skimp on the sugar or your ice cream may end up too icy and the texture won’t be as nice.
• Glucose, which can bind more water molecules than sucrose (granulated sugar). For this reason, adding glucose or other invert sugars like corn syrup or honey will help you improve the texture of ice cream, reducing the free water in the ice cream base, resulting in less ice crystals.
• Fine kosher salt, which dissolves easily and provides a little depth of flavour, helping the flavours in the ice cream stand out more.
• Stabilizer, like cornstarch or tapioca starch, which helps with the texture of the ice cream by trapping water. This helps delay melting when you serve and eat the ice cream, and it also reduces the number of larger ice crystals.

Infusing ice cream with popcorn flavour

This Philadelphia style ice cream is infused with buttery popcorn. To do so, you first make popcorn in a big pot on the stove with clarified butter. Then you add the dairy and let it all steep so that the buttered popcorn flavour infuses into the milk.

Once the popcorn has steeped long enough, you can strain it out and then add in the stabilizer you want to use. Then you chill the ice cream base before churning.

Equipment

I used an old Krups La Glacière ice cream maker to churn this batch of popcorn ice cream, but it is no longer in production. Dana Cree (and many others) recommends this Cuisinart model that you can get on Amazon. If I had the budget, I’d probably invest in this Breville model (available on Amazon), which comes with a built in compressor so that you can avoid having to chill an ice cream drum for 24 hours. This machine chills itself!

Wanna buy a copy of the book? Head over to Amazon to get yours! It’s a keeper! And then you can use your freshly churned ice cream to make homemade ice cream sandwiches and ice cream strawberry shortcakes! And for different ice cream flavours, you can make a batch of cookie ice cream, mint chocolate chip ice cream, cherry bourbon ice cream, lemon custard ice cream, cardamom ice cream, or even spiced chai ice cream!

If you want to learn more about making ice cream at home, check out this mega guide to how to make the best ice cream, with tips and tricks, and troubleshooting ideas if you run into problems along the way.

Please note that I have modified the directions of this recipe ever so slightly to attempt to make the use of the texture agents clearer.

I think the next ice cream I’ll make will be pumpkin sage. Dana Cree even covers how to make pumpkin purée at home—see, this book covers much of what you need to make great ice cream at home!

Please note that this post is a review of the cookbook Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree with a popcorn ice cream recipe from the book, reproduced with permission from the publisher. I purchased the book on Amazon and you can to here.This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you buy a product I recommend on Amazon via the link, I will receive a small commission, and the price you have to pay will not change in any way.