Toasted to Perfection: No-Churn, S’mores Ice Cream.

No-churn ice cream is a simple and convenient substitute to a traditional custard-based ice cream. It combines whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, and a variety or flavorings or mix-ins to customize it. The resulting mixture is whipped to incorporate air and then frozen until it reaches a creamy and scoopable consistency.

As its name suggests, no-churn s’mores ice cream can be made without an ice cream maker, which “churns” custard-based ice creams to both freeze and incorporate air into the mixture.

No-churn ice cream recipes rely on the high-fat content of the heavy (double) cream and the emulsifying properties of sweetened condensed milk to create a smooth and creamy textured ice cream.

The fat in the cream provides richness, while the sugar in the condensed milk acts as a stabilizer and lowers the freezing point of the mixture, reducing the formation of large ice crystals (creaminess).

While the absence of eggs and the churning process in no-churn ice cream does result in a slightly different texture and higher melting point (i.e. it thaws faster) compared to custard-based ice cream, the combination of high-fat content, sugar, and air incorporation allows no-churn ice cream to work as an acceptable replacement.

I like to toast the milk powder until it’s the same medium umber color that milk solids get when you brown butter, so I suggest using that as a benchmark. Technically, however, anything between ochre and the medium umber is good-to-go. The darker the color the nuttier and more caramelized flavor you will have. The least amount of time I would spend toasting is probably around 30 minutes.

Heck yes you can. As I said in the notes, making a bulk batch of this is a game-changer. In fact, it will last up to 6 months in a sealed container. Seriously, if you are going to spend an hour doing this, bulk it baby!

Yes, but I’d only suggest using one of them. There other ways of toasting powdered milk without needing specialty equipment are:

1. Adding powdered milk to a sauté pan where you are already browning butter – When the butter just melts, add the powdered milk and continue as normal. This is a great way to boost flavor and get things caramelizing fast. However, you can really only use what’s needed for a single recipe, so it’s not bulk or pantry friendly. Browned butter lasts for about a week in the refrigerator if you want to make it ahead of time.

2. Using a microwave – I’ve heard mixed results for this option and haven’t tried it personally for that reason. According to other blogs you can cook (1 cup) 100g of powdered milk in 30 second increments for 10 minutes and have a golden milk powder in 1/6 of the time as dry toasting it on the stove top. Make sure to break up clumps between rounds.

3. Baking it in the oven – Heat your oven to 300°F (149°C). Spread the powdered milk onto to a parchment paper covered baking tray and place it in the oven for between 6-9 minutes. You’ll need to stir the toasting powdered milk at least twice while it bakes. And, you guessed it, break up the clumps as you go.

You are welcome to use any of these options, however, the first one would be my preferred choice. Why you ask? Well, I am a HUGE control freak and knowing how quickly this ingredient burns makes me never want to take my eyes off of it. If I’m distilling the cooking time down from 1 hour to only 10 minutes, I want to be watching the milk powder cook the whole time.

If you want to read more about toasted milk powder, check out my resource post about it! The Ultimate Guide to Toasted Milk Powder

A hand mixer will work perfectly fine for this no-churn s’mores ice cream recipe. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention two things to consider:

1. It will take longer as a hand mixer’s speed and power are less than a stand mixer.

2. For the marshmallow fluff YOU MUST BE FAR MORE CAREFUL with the butane torch if you are using a hand mixer. Make sure you never direct the torch towards your hand. Instead remove the mixer and toast the fluff in your bowl. Make sure the bowl you are using is metal and you have some kind of glove on if you need to hold the bowl while mixing. It will get hot because of metal’s conductivity. Please be safe when using open flame in your kitchen.

If you over mix eggs whites, the proteins will crowd and “weep”, mostly water as they destabilize. Here’s the egg white circle of life:

1. The foam created from whisking will go from large translucent bubbles to small opaque ones.

2. The volume will increase and the egg white foam will get visibly glossy as the bubbles get smaller and form soft peaks.

3. The volume will continue to increase as the egg white proteins become more structured and form stiff peaks.

4. The structure will break down and the bubbles will once again begin enlarging. The foam will turn grainy and matte and you will see foam floating around on top the liquid pushed out of the foam structure.

If you see signs of bubbles or graininess immediately stop whisking and assess. If you are making something high in sugar like a meringue or marshmallow, you can still probably use the egg whites, as the sugar will emulsify and re-stabilize the structure. However, if you see any splitting, stop and start over.

Good thing this recipe has cream of tartar. huh? Not sure what that means? The next Q&A has you covered. 😉

Adding an acid, like cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate), to egg whites helps stabilize the egg proteins and makes them more resistant to breakdown, drying out, and graininess. Bye-bye weeping, both the foam and me!

While the final flavor of the fluff comes down to personal preference, I recommend making sure the roasted flavor is stronger than what you would want if you ate it by itself for 2 reasons:

1. Chilling, or in this case, freezing food mutes both taste and aroma. i.e. The flavor of the fluff when fully incorporated into the no-churn, s’mores ice cream will not be as strong once it’s frozen.

2. Once the roasted fluff is mixed in with all of the other flavors, it will be less discernible for your tastebuds.

I recommend using chocolate between 60% (semi-sweet) and 85% (bitter-sweet) cacao. Their fat content makes it harder for them to break than darker chocolates. 72% has just enough bitterness to breakthrough the ice cream and marshmallow without taking away from the overall s’mores flavor. And, using milk chocolate, as is traditional for s’mores, would be far too sweet in this context.

The butter and syrup aren’t fully necessary to this being a good ganache. Go without them if you’d like.

1. The butter is specifically for texture and flavor reasons. There is enough fat in the whipping cream to stabilize the chocolate. The added fat from the butter is meant to help the ganache more fully coat your tongue, which in turn makes you perceive a more full flavor and creaminess from the chocolate.

2. The syrup acts as an emulsifier and even further stabilizes the ganache. It makes the process of heating, mixing, and cooling much more forgiving by inhibiting sugar crystal development. You can use another invert sugar if you don’t have access to golden syrup or just use honey.

Just like with whipped eggs whites, the proteins in the heavy (double) cream will lose their gloss after passing stiff peaks stage. As they destabilize, they will stick to milk fat creating globules of butter and weeping buttermilk in the process.

You definitely don’t want it to get to the butter stage. Stop when you have just a little more than soft peaks. The base should be shiny and stand-up when you pull your whisk out of it. However, it will but be too liquid to do that if you scrape the sides and gently fold the ice cream base without a whisk.

I have 3 other recipes that use toasted milk powder, and that list will continue growing. If you’d like to check them out, here you go…

Transform Your Snickerdoodles with Toasted Milk Powder

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Use Toasted Milk Powder

Avalanche Bars are better than Rice Krispie Treats! There, I said it!