Orange Ice Cream Recipe & Video

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A hot summer's day begs for something cold. Oh, we could sip on a cold drink but nothing says  'Summer' like a bowl of homemade ice cream. So try this delicious Orange Ice Cream that is perfect on its own, or with fresh fruit.

I adapted this Orange Ice Cream recipe from Marjorie Kinnan Rawling's delightful book "Cross Creek Cookery". It is so easy to make as it's doesn't use a custard base. So that means it does not contain eggs, only cream, freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice, sugar and vanilla extract. So there is no 'cooking' involved; just mix all the ingredients together, chill in the refrigerator, and then process in your ice cream machine. Think of it as an "iced" cream, as that is how I would describe its lovely grainy texture (like a sherbet) that has a wonderful orange citrus flavor.

A few notes on ingredients. Any variety of sweet oranges can be used to make this ice cream. For reference, I used about 3 pounds (1.4 kg) of mandarin oranges to produce 2 cups (480 ml) of orange juice. I also like to add a little lemon juice as I think it enhances the citrus flavor. Cream is the fat that rises to the top of whole milk. It has a smooth, satiny texture and is labeled according to its butterfat content (heavy to light). When making this ice cream, use 'Heavy' Cream or Heavy 'Whipping' Cream which means it has a 36 - 40% butterfat that will double in volume when whipped and hold its form. The other cream used in this ice cream is Half and Half Cream, which is made of a mixture of cream and whole milk and contains between 10 - 18% butterfat.