Homemade Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Ice cream flavors like mango, jackfruit, durian, coconut, pandan, and coffee were the ones I grew up with. My mom sold ice cream and frozen yogurt as a side job when I was very young. I was the chief taste tester and couldn’t be happier to play that role.

It wasn’t until we moved to America that I was exposed to exotic flavors like cookies and cream, rocky road, salted caramel, cherry garcia, and rum raisin. We went through a period of time where a new flavor was brought home whenever my mom went grocery shopping.

Throughout the years, one flavor has remained my favorite—rum raisin from Haagen-Dazs! The first time I had rum raisin ice cream, my taste buds did a happy dance. There’s something about that hint of rum that makes it so good!

With the weather warming up and my freezer semi-empty, I decided it was time to experiment. After several batches, I found the ratio of milk, cream, egg, sugar, raisins, and rum that I like. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Rum raisin ice cream

1 ½ cup of 2% organic milk

1 ½ cup of organic heavy whipping cream

4 small egg yolks

½ cup of sugar (If you like your ice cream on the sweet side, use ¾ cup of sugar instead)

3 tablespoon of dark rum

For the raisins

½ cup of raisins

½ cup of dark rum (reserve 3 tbsps of rum for ice cream)

1. Combine the raisins and dark rum in a bowl and let the raisins soak overnight.

2. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks just to break them up, then whisk in half of the sugar. Set aside.

3. In a heavy, nonstick saucepan, stir together milk, cream, and remaining sugar.

4. Put the pan over medium-high heat and let the mixture boil gently to bubbling just around the edges (gentle simmer). Reduce the heat to low.

5. Carefully measure out ½ cup of hot cream mixture. While whisking the eggs constantly, whisk the hot cream mixture into the eggs until smooth. Continue tempering the eggs by adding another ½ cup of hot cream to the bowl with the yolks.

6. Pour the cream-egg mixture back to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens and coats the back of a spatula.

7. Strain the base through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container.

8. Stir in the rum soaked raisins and 3 tbsps of rum.

9. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziplock freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in an ice bath until cold, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate the ice cream base for at least 4 hours or overnight.
10. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister of your ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
11. Spin until thick and creamy, about 25-30 minutes.
12. Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Cook’s note:

-When you’re cooking the egg yolk-cream mixture, keep the heat low to avoid scrambling your ice cream base.

-I like to chill my ice cream base overnight to let the flavor fully develop.