No Churn Ice Cream

So it may not have escaped your attention that I've not been quite myself lately ... the old confidence is suffering.  The reason for this has been a major job interview (how many of you thought I was going to say I was pregnant!!!) which involved a lot of planning and prep work.  The interview was yesterday morning and the news was delivered to me at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon.  I didn't get the job ;0(

I comforted myself by scoffing a big old bowl of ice cream but not any old ice cream.  No siree.  This ice cream was made by me without an ice cream maker in sight.  And it was easy too, I've made ice cream quite a few times before and I've always enjoyed the satisfaction that comes from creating this treat from scratch.  Making the custard base is always temperamental, will it work, will it not?  The labour intensive stage of whisking it every couple of hours to make sure the ice crystals don't form and the pure joy that comes from the first spoonful of the sweet, creamy treat as it hits your taste buds that makes all the effort worthwhile (totally unlike dedicating a week and half of your life to relentless interview preparation only to get no where at all!  Definitely no taste of satisfaction there!) but with this ice cream recipe you get all the benefit of the great ice cream taste without all the effort.

Now ... in my haste to soothe my jangled nerves I forgot to take a photo of that perfect scoop of homemade ice cream.  Please forgive me!  Instead I've included a photo from the Caramelised Banana Split that also featured the ice cream.  I do hope the photo's I did remember to take help convey the message ... and if not then I guess you'll just need to make this recipe yourself and see not only how easy it is but also how yummy!

No Churn Ice Cream
½ a 397g can sweetened condensed milk
600ml pot double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put the condensed milk, cream and vanilla into a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until thick and quite stiff, a bit like clotted cream. Scrape into a freezer container or a large loaf tin, cover with cling film and freeze until solid.

Serves 8 (I guess that depends on if you get the job or not really!)
Good Food, Aug 10

I'm already planning on trying this with some different flavour combos stirred through, chocolate, lemon, praline ... the list goes on and on ;0)