How To Make Mason Jar Ice Cream

Mason jar ice cream. When you need dessert fast!

This technique for making ice cream is the easiest on the internet, and the end result is hard to believe. Who would have thought a jar and some staple ingredients could make a creamy, delicious ice cream?

What’s so good about mason jar ice cream?

1. It’s as easy as making toast.
2. There’s no need for any appliances.
3. You get a good arm workout.
4. It produces tasty ice cream.
5. It’s a fun activity for kids (and adults).
6. Ice cream in a jar is portable. Take them to the beach!

Flavour 1: Vanilla ice cream

What you need to make vanilla mason jar ice cream

The basic building blocks for making this ice cream are cream, sugar, and vanilla. A nice vanilla extract will provide a better taste than vanilla essence.

For a smallish sized mason jar like I used, fill the jar a little over half way then add a tablespoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of vanilla. For a larger jar, just increase the ingredients in proportion.

How to make the ice cream

This is where the workout comes in. Screw on the lid and start shaking. If you have a helper that’s good, you can tag out when you feel the burn. From my experience, kids feel the burn after about 15 seconds.

Once you can’t hear any shaking in the jar you’re done. Wet a paper towel and wrap around the jar. Then pop it in the freezer for about an hour to harden.

Here’s how the vanilla ice cream turned out. It was a very creamy ice cream. As an ice cream machine wasn’t used there wasn’t a lot of overrun which meant it was dense. Let it sit out of the freezer for 10 minutes to soften before eating.

Flavour 2: Chocolate Ice Cream

This was my favourite flavour. Folding in some chocolate fudge sauce would have been a nice addition.

What you need to make chocolate ice cream in a mason jar

The only difference to the vanilla version is that you’ll add a tablespoon of cocoa. Then start shaking! You could also stir in some chocolate chips at the end of the shaking process.

This is how my ice cream turned out. Magically creamy chocolate ice cream you can eat straight from the jar. Jazz it up a little with choc chips, M&Ms or your favourite sauce drizzled on top.

Flavour 3: Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream

What you need to make mint ice cream

You’ll need cream, sugar and peppermint flavour. If you don’t mind using food colouring, then add a dash of green colour.

Once you’ve finished shaking the ice cream you could add some chocolate chips. I added some chopped Lindt mint chocolate which was perfect.

 

Mint flavoured ice cream made using mason jars. Yum!

Mint choc chip ice cream ready to eat.

A portable summer dessert ideal for picnics.

Just don’t forget lots of ice.

We had ours cooling in an ice box when some friends came over for a BBQ. They’d also be handy to take to the beach in a cooler bag. This ice cream doesn’t have any stabilisers, so keep them cool or they’ll melt fast.

Mason jars packed with ice cream.

My pick was chocolate because the texture was exceptional, thanks to some help from the cocoa. It reminded me of those tubs of chocolate mousse you buy at the supermarket – only a denser texture.

What is the down side of mason jar ice cream

1. I mentioned that an advantage of making this ice cream is that it’s a great workout. Well, I’m sure that would also be a negative for some. It takes a bit of shaking action to get the job done.
2. The mouthfeel of this dessert can be too much for some. Because no milk is used, it has a lot of fat and it tends to coat your tongue if you eat the whole jar.

Now it’s your turn

Get yourself some jars and start shaking your way to some serious ice cream action. You’ll get an enjoyable dessert at the end of it and it’s definitely one the kids will love making… and eating.

If making ice cream with jars sounds a little too energetic, check out 60 more ice cream recipes here. There’s sure to be an ice cream that you’ll love in that collection.