Growing up in Canada, kids would enjoy many of the refreshments other kids in the world would to beat the summer heat. There was lemonade, Kool-Aid, soft drinks, watermelon, ice cream and popsicles. A hybrid of the latter two was the “creamsicle”. Picture a vanilla ice cream on a stick that was covered by a layer of orange popsicle. Each bite gave you tangy orange flavour and creamy white ice cream. The combo in the mouth was both refreshing and tasty.
Today there are also some commercially made ice creams in a tub that recreate the creamsicle experience in a tub. This is also the age of practically everyone having their own ice cream/gelato maker at home and I was delighted to find a recipe for homemade creamsicle-flavoured ice cream.
Just a few weeks ago, I finally splurged on an ice cream maker and this would be my second creation, the Creamsicle ice cream. A dear reader of this blog and friend Pam of Sidewalk Shoes featured a recipe for this nostalgic ice cream flavour and I immediately bookmarked it. I waited patiently for the day when I would have my own ice cream maker. The day is here.
Pam’s source of the recipe comes from David Lebovitz’ The Perfect Scoop book of ice cream, gelato and sorbet recipes. The end result is not an exact replica of the Creamsicle you and I enjoyed as kids but it comes remarkably close and I’d have to say close counts in both horseshoes and in ice cream making.
A word of caution: the recipe calls for the zest of three oranges. Oranges vary in size and I would probably add the zest of one orange at a time in the cream mixture. Taste along the way, add another dose of orange zest until you’ve got the taste you like. Otherwise, follow the recipe as is. It’s great in a bowl or a cone and savouring this creamsicle ice cream transports me back to the summer of ’75, outside of a variety/corner store with friends. We would each have a dollar to spend and back then, one dollar bought alot. A creamsicle in the summer was a 25 cent trip to “Refreshingville”.
What treats did you by/enjoy as a child in the summer?
Creamsicle Ice Cream
(adapted from David Lebovitz)
2/3 cup sugar
grated zest of 2-3 oranges (organic)
1 1/4 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup Carnation evaporated milk
2 teaspoons Grand Marnier (or Cointreau) orange liqueur
- In a blender or food processor , add the sugar and the zest and process until the zest is very fine. Add the orange juice, yogurt, evaporated milk and liqueur and process until the sugar is dissolved.
- Cover and chill thoroughly and then process in your ice cream maker per instructions (I place the bowl in the freezer for a at least one day prior).
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© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis
32 Responses
Ah…creamsicles…this brings back many good childhood memories. I will have to try this in my ice cream maker. Besides creamsicles, I would buy revels (popsicle form – vanilla ice cream on the inside and hard chocolate on the outside), lime crush, and freezies. How I loved summer!
Well done. If only I could taste it. How was the consistency? Was it smooth or with ice crystals, more like sorbet?
Yum, I always loved a creamsicle, that doesn’t look like it would get you with lots of orange food coloring too
Oh….how I used to love creamsickles as a kid. Especially as my dad owned a candy store, and I could (nearly) have as many as my heart desired. On a long hot summer’s day, although ice cream cones and Kool Aid pops were great, nothing refreshed quite as wonderfully as a creamsickle…except for one other thing, and that was Corona Ice in a cup (that we got directly from the Corona Ice king himself…in Corona, Queens, near where my dad’s candy store was, in Astoria).
Now that I’m on the other side of the Atlantic in Ireland, the only thing that comes fairly reasonably close to the creamsickle of my youth is something put out by HB Ice Cream (or Wall’s in the UK), called a Solero bar. The original Solero bar is vanilla ice cream, coated with orange ice, on a stick. These days, however, there are variations on the flavour for the ice – Solero Strawberry and Solero Exotic (with mango, which is delicious, but nothing beats orange).
I don’t know if I’m brave enough to try to recreate this wonderful childhood memory, especially as I don’t have an ice-cream maker, but if I ever do get courageous, I’ll definitely take this recipe out and give it a whirl.
Thanks for sharing.
I was never a fan of creamsicles (not very much into orange flavored anything, just oranges), but I do love sherbet – which is kind of the same idea – fruity creamy goodness. Your ice cream looks fabulously creamy Peter! Perfect consistency!
I liked creamsicles, until the summer I was 12 when we went to Crete and I discovered the Solero bar, the much tastier, better-quality cousin of the creamsicle. I dreamed about the rich, creamy, sunshiny goodness of Solero bars until I went to Rome the summer I was 22 and I discovered it again, albeit in a “blood orange” form. Still delicious.
At home we had the usual stuff, creamsicles and those rocket (?) popsicles, the red, white and blue ones? My brother’s favorite are banana-flavoured popsicles, I was always sent to the corner store to buy them for him when he had a cold, since he found them soothing on his throat.
I wish I only had to pay a quarter for a popsicle…those days have long since passed!
I made my first ice cream on my brand new ice cream machine last weekend and it was amazing. I know which ice cream is next… this one! Wonderful recipe Peter! Love the orange flavors.
Magda
That ice cream must taste haevenly! A wonderful flavor combo! Homemade creasicles are the best.
Cheers,
Rosa
I love this recipe! (and yeah, 3 portokalia of zest seems quite zesty indeed). Screw the juice, put the grand mariner in mine! Next flavor projects = dark chocolate pistachio, baklava, kidoni kai mastiha…..
I will take two scoops. Thanks:)
Well this just looks AWESOME! I would love to freeze this into pops for easy snacking all day long… ;-)
Peter τι το καλύτερο τώρα το καλοκαίρι από σπιτικά παγωτά και γρανίτες??
Και μόνο που βλέπω αυτό που έφτιαξες, δροσίζομαι!!!
Φιλιά, καλή βδομάδα!
Thanks for the shout out! Wasn’t it great?? That reminds me, I haven’t made any since last summer!
Peter, this looks so good! Creamsicles take me right back to being a kid. I always loved those, and now, my kids do, too. I’m totally going to make this over the summer. Thanks for sharing!
I ‘ll try this recipe!! I love the flavor of orange!
My memory of childhood summer treats includes the creamsicle (of course) and these giant pyramids of ice flavoured in grape (purple), cherry (red) called Lolas. Too big to eat the entire thing (it was all ice anyway) but sticking a straw down the side of the packaging would extract all the sugary juice. I recently made lemon gelato with my ice cream maker and it was creamy and tart, perfect for this hot weather. Orange creamsicle sounds great too!
I can identify with the creamsicle – and the fudgesicle too. Your version looks terrific and has me wanting to run out for supplies.
I liked creamsicles; also Italian lemon ice. Still do.
P.S. Love that you managed to sneak a little Greek in there via the yogurt.
nice, im gonna give this one a try! :)
never had creamsicle growing up but I would love it now! sounds creamy and tangy and with a little slurp of naughty from the Grand Marnier. Perfect, in one word.
I think there is a kid in all of us and the kid in me definitely will love this a lot!!! As a child strangely enough, I loved rum ‘n raisin flavor!!
Creamsicles, along with popsicles, were a favorite summer treat for me growing up in Hawaii. I can’t wait to get my own ice cream maker!
the creamsicle is and probably always will be my favorite ice cream novelty. excellent recipe, peter.
David Lebovitz is the “go to” source for making tasty ice cream combinations.
This looks tasty! When I was a kid, my favourites were black tiger (orange with licorice ripple) and rainbow sherbet. I hated anything with nuts or chunks of fruit in it, and I’m still not crazy about them. Black tiger is too sweet now, though.
Must put my ice cream maker bucket in the freezer and try the creamsicle.
This is such a lovely and nostalgic post Peter! Back in the summer of ’75…how times have changed. I adore the flavours you have used here…simply delicious!
This icecream brings back so many memories…My Mom made us creamsicle growing up. Awesome post.
Timely find, for me! YUM. My husband is crazy over creamsicles and buys the Breyers brand of this ice cream. I want to make my own – I make ice creams all of the time (well, in the summer) and I cannot wait to surprise him with this one.
Thank you so much!!!
:)
Valerie
Bravo for getting yourself that great ice cream maker! If you’re anything like me, you will get a lot of use out of it. Creamsicles were one of my favorite treats growing up. I still love to smush vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet together to get the same effect. I’ll definitely have to try this version.
I’m such a sucker for citrus, and for icecream, so this looks perfect to me!
My husband has been requesting this recipe from the book for ages, though I’ve never been much of a creamsicle kinda gal. I know I’ll have to make it soon, though, and I’m glad to hear you liked it!