How to Make Ice Cream Like Jeni’s: The Jeni’s Ice Cream Base Recipe

What is the enemy of a great ice cream base? According to Jeni’s Ice Cream, it’s water!

Too much water makes an ice cream base icy and crunchy—not the desired texture—creamy and smooth.

Why? Because if water is not bound to other ingredients in an ice cream base, it turns into crunchy shards of ice. And those ice shards not only ruin the desired creamy mouth-feel, they dilute flavor as well.

Jeni’s addresses this problem by reducing water in its base in several ways:

• Their base recipe includes cornstarch which absorbs water and acts as a thickener.
• Their recipe uses heat to evaporate water from the milk.
• That heat also loosens milk proteins. Then loose milk proteins bind with water to prevent ice from forming.

Also worth noting: there’s one flavor surprise in Jeni’s ice cream base recipe: three tablespoons of cream cheese!

Why cream cheese? It’s a hint of tart to balance the sugar, plus an extra hit of fat to keep the base rich, decadent, and buttery.

JENI’S ICE CREAM BASE

YIELD

Makes About 1 Quart

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 tbsp. (1 ½ oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/8 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1 1⁄4 cups heavy cream
• 2⁄3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. light corn syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix about 2 tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch to create a smooth slurry. Then set aside.
2. Whisk cream cheese with salt until smooth.
3. In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together the remaining milk, and the cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Gradually whisk in cornstarch slurry. Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Gradually whisk the hot milk mix into the cream cheese until smooth.
5. Pour mixture into a 1-gallon plastic freezer bag; seal and submerge in an ice bath until chilled.
6. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process as you usually would with your particular ice cream maker.
7. Pack ice cream in storage container. Top with a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, sealing with air tight lid. Freeze until firm, at least four hours.

BONUS: JENI’S FROZEN YOGURT BASE

YIELD

Makes About 1 Quart

INGREDIENTS

• 1 quart plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 4 tbsp. (2 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2⁄3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place a sieve over a bowl. Line it with two layers of cheesecloth. Pour the yogurt into the lined sieve, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate 6-8 hours to drain. Discard the liquid. Set aside 1 ¼ cups of the strained yogurt.
2. Mix about 3 tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch to create a smooth slurry. Then set aside.
3. Whisk cream cheese with salt until smooth.
4. In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together the remaining milk, and the cream, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Gradually whisk in cornstarch slurry. Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Gradually whisk the hot milk mix into the cream cheese until smooth. Add 1 ¼ cups strained yogurt and blend well.
6. Pour mixture into a 1-gallon plastic freezer bag; seal and submerge in an ice bath until chilled.
7. Pour mixture into an frozen yogurt maker; process as you usually would with your particular frozen yogurt maker.
8. Pack frozen yogurt in storage container. Top with a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, sealing with air tight lid. Freeze until firm, at least four hours.

BOOKS

Need to know how Jeni’s Ice Cream does it? Get Jeni’s cookbooks: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home

and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams Desserts.

WEBSITE

Jeni’s Ice Cream

ORDER HOME DELIVERY

Jeni’s Ice Cream Delivery Nationwide

Related

Read all the Jeni’s Ice Cream Pint Reviews

Read all the base recipes of the famous brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs.

Last Updated on August 29, 2022 by Ice Cream Admin