There’s nothing better than homemade ice cream, unless it’s Irish whiskey ice cream ~ this is the ultimate adult frozen treat!
All Saint Patrick’s Day food doesn’t have to be green. In fact, the best of it is decidedly not green, like IRISH STEW, BROWN BREAD, and of course, whiskey. But don’t think this Whiskey Ice Cream is just for St Paddy’s Day, either, it’s going to be killer on your holiday pies, and I bet it would make a pretty great adult milkshake this summer, so keep this little gem of a recipe in your back pocket, it’ll come in handy, I promise.
If you were awake during high school chemistry class you probably know that alcohol freezes at a higher temperature than most other liquids. That means that it’s very tough to make ice cream with a strong alcohol content….the alcohol raises the freezing temperature of the ice cream and it turns out soupy, no matter how long you leave it in the freezer. You can make a soft serve type of thing, but for a true ice cream consistency, it takes some creative thinking.
I added a packet of gelatin to my regular ice cream recipe, and that does the trick. It thickens the ice cream and allows me to spike it with enough Bushmills to be worthy of the name. I can’t pretend that having multiple test batches of Irish whiskey ice cream in the freezer is a bad thing…but I will say that this recipe took some experimentation. I eventually came up with a bang on creamy, scoopable, whiskey ice cream. I hope you’ll try it!
This ice cream is just perfect all by itself, but if you were in the mood for embellishment, there is always BITTERSWEET HOT FUDGE SAUCE, or how about using it as a base for AFFOGATO and pour a shot of espresso over a scoop or two?
Irish Whiskey Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
- 1/2 cup cold milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 packet gelatin, 1/4 oz
- 1/3 cup Irish whiskey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix the cream and milk together with the sugar. Stir to completely dissolve the sugar.
- Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup of cold water. Let sit one minute. Then pour 1/4 cup of boiling water over that and stir to completely dissolve the gelatin.
- Pour the gelatin into the cream mixture and stir. Refrigerate the mix until cold, about 2 hours.
- Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and process according to directions.
- When the ice cream is starting to look firm, pour in the whiskey and the vanilla. This will thin out the mixture again. Let the ice cream churn until it is thickened again.
- Spread the soft ice cream in a loaf pan and freeze until firm.
Notes
Nutrition
Really delicious! I would usually expect this kind of ice cream to have egg yolks in it, but found I really liked the lightness that this ice cream had. The whisky flavor is light, too. Just right! And so easy!
Thanks Elisabeth 🙂
Hi Sue,
I do not have a ice cream machine. I have s thermomix . Do you habe any tips for converting?
Sorry jessica, I’m not familiar with that machine, maybe a reader will weigh in.
I am wondering what is the best way to store it. Is that a bread pan I see in the background?
I usually freeze my ice cream in a loaf pan, Michhaela, because it makes it easy to get a nice scoop when I’m ready to serve it. You can also use any freezer safe container you like.
I believe you messed up the part with the freezing point of alcohol. Alcohol freezes at a ‘lower’ (rather than higher) temperature than most other liquids. This is why it stays softer (less frozen) than water below the water freezing point. If you add alcohol to ice cream, it requires it to be colder to freeze (since the new freezing point is below the original freezing point) and you have to reach a lower temperature than usual. I hope i’m making sense.
Either way, I will definitely try out this recipe out this weekend. Looks delicious!
That always confuses me, thanks for the clarification Nil 🙂
I’ve got to make this for St. Patrick’s Day. Nice to see the brand you used in the back ground of the picture. Perfect for dessert after corned beef and cabbage!!!
Can I come to your house this year Theresa?!
I was really excited to make this for my Irish husband who loves everything whiskey! I have never use gelatin when making ice cream before, and I was a little put off by the texture when I took it out of the fridge. I had a really hard time getting it to a creamy, softserve consistency. I had to take it out of the ice cream maker stir rapidly and add back in several times, otherwise I was getting large sections that were icy. Could this be fixed by adding half of the liquor before chilling?
i get so excited when i find ice cream recipes that don’t require a machine!
Whiskey ice cream! Oh my goodness! You just might be a genius-that high school chemistry class came in handy!
Gelatin? Brilliant! I’ll have to try that. I always reduce booze so I can use more to flavor ice cream–definitely trying your trick next! Pinned!
This is so cool, Sue. I love that you figured out the gelatin to help it set with a good bit of alcohol in it! I bet it tastes amazing.