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–+ servings
Cotton candy ice cream scoops in a blue bowl.
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5 from 2 votes

Cotton Candy Ice Cream

Rich and creamy cotton candy ice cream with the perfect ice cream texture. Easy to make at home with or without an ice cream machine!
Prep Time15 minutes
Churning Time25 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegetarian
Servings: 8
Calories: 365kcal
Author: Alison

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Heavy Cream Cold
  • 14 ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk Canned
  • 1-2 teaspoons Cotton Candy Flavoring
  • Blue Food Coloring or Pink, Optional*
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Add heavy cream to the bowl of your stand mixer and whip it until you have stiff peaks.
  • Add sweetened condensed milk, cotton candy flavoring and blue food coloring and whip in until thickened.
  • If you don't have an ice cream machine then simply transfer the ice cream mix to a 9x5 loaf pan and smooth down. Cover with foil and freeze.
  • If you do have an ice cream machine then transfer the ice cream mix to your ice cream machine and churn until it reaches a thick soft serve consistency. Transfer it to a 9x5 loaf pan and smooth down. Cover with foil and freeze until set.
  • Scoop and serve!

Notes

  1. Heavy cream - creates the thick and creamy base for this ice cream. You can also use whipping cream, so long as it's a thickened cream, it will work well in this recipe.
  2. Food coloring - to get the exact shade of blue you can see in our photos we used 4 drops of Americolor Royal Blue gel food coloring and 2 drops Americolor Violet gel food coloring. 
  3. Cotton candy flavoring - start off by adding 1 teaspoon of cotton candy flavoring and then taste test to see if you'd like to make the flavor stronger. 
  4. Don't over-mix it. If you let the mixer run for too long your cream will want to start turning into butter. So don't turn your back on it and mix it just long enough to thicken.
  5. Ice cream machine: If you don't have an ice cream machine then this ice cream works GREAT as a no-churn recipe. The difference between the churned ice cream and no-churn ice cream is extremely small, there is maybe a 2% difference in texture. The churned version is just ever so slightly more 'light and fluffy' so if you do have an ice cream machine you might as well use it, but if you don't then no worries at all.
  6. Storing: Keep it stored in the freezer and enjoy it within around 2 weeks. It's best not to keep it stored much beyond 2 weeks because it can start to develop ice crystals if stored too long.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serve | Calories: 365kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 86mg | Potassium: 229mg | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 1007IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 180mg | Iron: 1mg