Anne Ward has been making her Butter Buckle Ice Cream Dessert for many years and says it has been a staple for family gatherings. “I tweaked the recipe but ripped it off from my sister-in-law, Linda Miller,” says Ward, who moved to Alabama from Alberta, Canada, more than 50 years ago. “She always made it for her family, and she shared it with us.”

Now Ward enjoys making it for her own family groups and found that using butter-flavored cooking spray in the bottom of the pan adds a bit more buttery flavor and, of course, makes for easier cleanup. Rather than using just a pint of ice cream, she suggests a “brick” of ice cream, letting it soften a bit, then cutting it with a knife and laying the pieces in the pan.

If you can’t find butterscotch topping (we had that problem), she agrees caramel topping makes a fine substitute, and if you can’t find apple pie spice (a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and sometimes cardamom), try cinnamon.

Butter Buckle Ice Cream Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup oats (quick-cooking or old-fashioned)
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
• ½ teaspoon apple pie spice
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 jar butterscotch ice cream topping
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream, or more to taste

Instructions

To melted butter, add flour, oats, sugar, spice and pecans. Mix until well combined but crumbly. Place on parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 15 minutes, stirring once. Cool and crumble completely. Place ¾ of the crumbs in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan, lightly greased with no-stick spray. Pour ¼ to ½ of the butterscotch sauce on top. Add a thick layer of ice cream (you may have to indulge in more than a pint). Place the remaining crumbs on top, then dribble the rest of the sauce over the top. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in freezer to harden. Store in the freezer until ready to serve.

Anne Ward

Blueberry Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 cups whipping cream

Instructions

Puree blueberries in a blender. Add pureed blueberries and sugar in a saucepan and stir, warming until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate mixture until cold. Add in vanilla, salt, milk, half and half, and whipping cream. Mix. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn. Freeze to allow ice cream to set up and ripen.

Notes

This ice cream takes a little planning, as the ice cream base needs to be cooled after cooking. I also like to let the ice cream harden up in the freezer after it has been processed to make it more scoopable. You can enjoy it straight out of the ice cream maker, but it will have more of the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

Martha Black Handschumacher

Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups heavy cream
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup almonds
• ½-¾ cup coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
• 1 12-ounce jar hot fudge ice cream topping

Instructions

Make a sweet cream base with the 2 beaten eggs, heavy cream, sugar and whole milk. Can be refrigerated overnight. Roast almonds at 400 degrees for 5 minutes; set aside and cool. Add ½-¾ cups coffee liqueur (such as Kahlua) to the cream base. Transfer to ice cream maker and begin to freeze. Open and remove dasher, stir in roasted almonds and fudge topping by hand. This ice cream remains soft, so it’s convenient to make ahead, transfer to a shallow dish and into your freezer. It will be ready to serve when you are.

Janie Whelton

Linda’s Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch pie shell, baked
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream
• 1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg and ½ teaspoon ginger
• 1 small box (3¾ ounces) instant vanilla pudding
• Cool Whip, for topping

Instructions

Let ice cream stand in bowl until soft enough to mix with pumpkin and spices. Stir with spoon until blended. Add instant pudding, using electric mixer for 1 minute. Pour into baked pie shell, cover and refrigerate overnight. Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip before serving. Garnish with nutmeg, nuts, chocolate, pecans, almonds, etc.

Terri Hall

Muscadine Ice Cream Sandwich

Ingredients

• 16 ounces heavy whipping cream
• 5 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 2-3 tablespoons muscadine preserves or jam
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 wafer sheets

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine heavy whipping cream and sweetened condensed milk; beat until fluffy (increasing speed as you go). Add 2-3 tablespoons of muscadine preserves or jam and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat for another minute. Spread finished mixture onto first wafer sheet and cover with second wafer sheet. Press down a little and align the edges. Let freeze overnight, then cut into pieces like sandwiches.

Natalia Haynes

Butterfinger Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cans sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 Butterfinger candy bars, crushed
• ½ gallon chocolate milk
• Whole milk, as needed

Instructions

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and place in an electric ice cream freezer. Add whole milk as needed to bring to fill line. Follow freezer directions until frozen.

Beverly Bentley

Mom’s Homemade Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• Splash of vanilla
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 small boxes or 1 large box pudding mix, any flavor you want

Mix all ingredients together and fill ice cream maker with milk. Run ice cream maker until desired consistency.

Cecilia Robinson

Serious Lemon Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 8 lemons, juiced
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind
• 4 cups sugar
• 3 half pints heavy whipping cream
• 1 pint half and half
• Milk, as needed

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except milk. Pour into an ice cream freezer that requires ice and salt. Fill container to within 2 inches of the top, using milk as needed. Churn ingredients until they are thick and smooth. Makes 1 gallon.

Lexie Turnipseed

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 box dark brown sugar
• 1½ cups toasted pecans
• 1 pint half and half
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Beat eggs with white sugar and dark brown sugar until thick and fluffy. Add pecans, half and half and whipping cream. Pour mixture into an ice cream freezer. Finish filling ice cream freezer with whole milk. Freeze what is not eaten in a freezer-safe container. Makes 1 gallon or 1½ gallons.

Sharon Pitt

Grannie Wanda’s Peach Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 4 cups peach puree, sliced peaches blended
• 1 small package peach Jell-O
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon almond flavoring
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cans sweetened condensed milk
• Red food coloring

Instructions

Slice peaches and puree in a blender until you get 4 cups puree. Pour puree into a large bowl and blend in peach Jell-O. Blend in sugar, whipping cream, almond and vanilla flavorings. Add 2 cans sweetened condensed milk and a few drops red coloring, if desired. Pour peach mixture into freezer can, add whole milk to the fill line and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

Wanda H. Stinson

German Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1½ cups sugar
• ¼ cup plain flour
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 quart milk
• 2 4-ounce bars sweet cooking chocolate, melted
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 quart light cream or half and half
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Instructions

Combine sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon in a heavy saucepan. Gradually add milk. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Cook 2 minutes. Blend in chocolate. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into eggs; return to cooked mixture; cook 1 minute. Do not boil. Add coconut; cool. Stir in cream. Chill; stir in nuts. Churn and freeze. Makes approximately 1 gallon.

Peggy Key

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 8-ounce container Cool Whip
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 small box instant banana pudding
• 3 bananas, cut into small pieces
• 1 box mini Nilla Wafers

Instructions

Mix together milk, sugar, eggs and sweetened condensed milk. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Let cool completely. When completely cool, add Cool Whip, vanilla, pudding and bananas. Pour into freezer container. Fill with milk. Let ice cream mix at manufacturer’s instructions. Top with Nilla Wafers and serve.

Thomas Braswell

Homemade ice cream makes Brooke Burks nostalgic. She offers her recipe for Easy Three-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream. (The Buttered Home)

Easy Three-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream brings back so many memories for me. I have always said that food is the gateway to nostalgia, and homemade ice cream is a big one. My Daddy Joe loved all ice cream, but he had a sweet spot for the homemade stuff. Our recipe for this easy three-ingredient ice cream is an easy and healthier way to have a little bit of that summer nostalgia. If you aren’t so interested in cutting calories, feel free to use regular sweetened condensed milk in place of the coconut.  For more memory-making recipes, visit www.thebutteredhome.com.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons coconut sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

Slice bananas. Add bananas, vanilla and coconut condensed milk to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour into a freezer-safe dish and chill for 2-4 hours. Serve and enjoy.

Brooke Burks, The Buttered Home

This story originally appeared in Alabama Living magazine.