Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book Paperback – January 5, 1987

I bought this book back in the 1980s when it was first printed. It's so dog-eared and has food spills on it from years of use, I decided to buy a fresh copy. Homemade ice cream, for me, used to be a complex, time-consuming endeavor before this book. Ben and Jerry share their recipes and ice cream tips, which are absolutely simple to make. No cooking required. But let's address the raw egg issue and how I solved it.I read several comments about the raw eggs called for in the recipes. Since the 1980s I always made this ice cream with raw eggs and no illnesses. Maybe I'm just more paranoid as I get older, but I didn't want to use raw eggs this time. But I didn't want to leave the eggs out, as I think they are essential to the consistency of the ice cream. And I didn't want the hassle of cooking the recipe. My solution was using pasteurized shell eggs.I read some reviews here and elsewhere and found that you can purchase pasteurized shell eggs. A company called Davidson's makes them. They're not easy to find in the Bay Area where I live, but there was one store (Bristol Farms) that sold them in San Francisco. I bought a dozen there.Also, I read another comment in which the person called Ben and Jerry's and was told that they could use Egg Beaters in place of raw eggs. I've never used Egg Beaters for anything, but have seen them in my grocery store. They are eggs that have been cracked and pasteurized and put into a little carton. I couldn't find any "plain" Egg Beaters in my grocery store that didn't have seasoning in them, so I went with the Davidson's pasteurized shell eggs. They come in a container just like regular shell eggs. They ARE regular shell eggs, but they've gone through some process to eliminate bacteria that could make you sick. When you crack them, they are raw, but they are okay to eat raw. Davidson's has a web site ([...]) which will reassure you.With this raw egg issue out of the way, I want to say that this is the perfect ice cream book, especially if you're a fan of Ben and Jerry's and you like homemade ice cream.By the way, they have three basic sweet cream recipes. Two of those don't even require eggs; and many recipes incorporate the sweet cream base, such as Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, etc., and you can choose which sweet cream base to use. I like the sweet cream base that uses the raw eggs, but that's my personal preference. However, I just made the sweet cream base with the condensed sweetened milk, and it was quite good.This book could use an update to include the flavors that were created over the last 20 years. But with some imagination, you can adapt some of them to match. For example, Chunky Monkey was not formulated when this book was written, but there is recipe for Banana ice cream. I made the banana ice cream and added 1/2 cup walnuts and 1/2 cup chocolate chunks. Ta-da! It is almost identical to Chunky Monkey.They also have some flavors that we might not have seen in the store, such as Maple Grape Nuts, Strawberry Coconut, Banana Peanut Butter, Beer Sorbet, Oreo Mint Cookie using chocolate ice cream, and a lot of others. They also have three recipes for chocolate ice cream: Ben's Chocolate, Jerry's Chocolate, and Light Chocolate.The simplicity of the recipes are what make this such a great book. Milk, cream, eggs, sugar and whatever other specific flavor ingredients needed. Mix 'em up and pour into the ice cream maker. A couple of recipes require you to chill the cream mix for a little while (Ben's Chocolate, for example), but most of them are mix the ingredients, pour into the ice cream maker, and 20-30 minutes later you've got your ice cream.These recipes are darn good. This gourmet ice cream is rich and tastes like a real professional made it.One note: They say to add your chunks (Heath Bars, cookies, chips, etc.) about 2 minutes before the ice cream is done. My ice cream maker Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic 1-1/2-Quart Ice-Cream Maker, White doesn't like the big chunks--larger than a chocolate chip, so I add them after the ice cream finishes. The ice cream is usually still soft enough to use a big plastic spoon and stir in the chunks before putting into the containers, which I also bought from Amazon Plain White Pint Size Frozen Dessert Containers.This is a user-friendly book, which is entertaining and has silly illustrations. But the recipes are no-nonsense as far as working exactly as expected. Some of my favorite recipes are Oreo Mint Cookie (using either vanilla or chocolate ice cream--and I use Newman's Oreo-like cookies), Banana, Strawberry, Orange Cream Dream, Ben's Chocolate with almonds, Peanut Butter, Vanilla Malt and Butter Pecan, to name a few. I have not tried the Coconut yet, nor have I tried the sorbets. I also experimented with using some Girl Scout Cookies--breaking up the Peanut Butter sandwich cookies and putting them in sweet cream. Yum.Get yourself some pasteurized eggs (if you are concerned about raw eggs), and have fun making ice cream. Someone mentioned that this book, along with an ice cream maker would make a good gift. I agree. Good stuff!!

Great book! I’ve watched so many YouTube videos on homemade ice cream and they all say to use condensed milk. This book immediately points out that should be a last resort and teaches you how to make real ice cream from scratch. The recipes are simple, clear, and actually taste like proper ice cream. Highly recommend if you want to make the good stuff at home instead of overly sweet no-churn versions.

Seriously, this book is incredible! I bought it as a gift and just thought it would be a fun, quirky book that would end up looking great on the shelf. lol Little did I know that Ben and Jerry were literally giving away their secrets to incredible ice cream! Every recipe has been A+, no notes.

This book is inspirational and informative, in a chatty, casual style that, while it makes the book fun to read, can sometimes lean toward too casual for my tastes. So I will tell you upfront the one gripe I have with the Ben & Jerry's book: it is vague about a topic I think is very important: cooking of ingredients. In particular, there are three basic "sweet cream" recipes (pg 28-9) in the book. The first describes a cream that uses eggs, cream, milk, and sugar, mixed together in a bowl. In the second recipe, however, Ben & Jerry point out that this number 2 recipe is easy because it doesn't involve any cooking, and sort of imply that also because of the lack of cooking (and/or the lack of eggs), the 2nd recipe won't last long in the freezer. So okay, did the first recipe involve cooking and we forgot to mention it? Or do none of the recipes involve cooking, and do we then assume that none of them will last long in the freezer? The authors have introduced a smoking gun in act two, when nothing was fired onstage in act one.That said, I still really like this book for the discussion of basic ice cream properties. In fact, I wish that discussion went into a little more detail. (Maybe I really need the Harold McGee ice cream book, if there was such a thing). And if you like crazy, wild, and inspiring ice cream recipes, Ben & Jerry are famous for them for a reason, and you will find those recipes in abundance here.So overall, I give this book a high rating for its basic info content and its wild ice cream chemistry tips and techniques, but a star off for some vagueness.

Ben & Jerry’s have some very delicious ice ice cream! In this recipe book, you will find some fabulous options for your ice cream machine!!