Eggs, Dairy or Neither?

Theme Your Gift : Create a Delectable Ice Cream Theme Gift

Basic recipes include only a handful of ingredients so quality is key. Use local, seasonal ingredients fresh from your farmer's market whenever available. Sugar, a pinch of salt and heavy cream are the comment components to dairy ice cream.

There are two main types of dairy ice cream - with eggs or without eggs. Custard style ice cream made with eggs is cooked over a double boiler and requires a few extra steps compared to its eggless counterpart, but it is also smoother, creamier and richer. Eggless ice cream is slightly lower in fat due to the lack of egg yolks and can be made even lighter with lower fat milk.

Because of the control you have in making homemade ice cream, if you are lactose intolerant, vegan or have other dietary needs that do not include dairy, homemade is the way to go! Tofu or soy milk is substituted for dairy and often powdered sugar is used instead of traditional sugar. Besides a lower overall cost, soy ice cream or even almond milk ice creams are very expensive and often difficult to find.

TIP: GiftStashers, create a registry called Ice Cream and save choices there until you're ready to buy.