How to make no-churn ice cream that doesn't suck

Summer's here in the northern hemisphere (although I now live in perpetual summer) and that means one thing - social media is filled with recipes for frozen treats. This year, I've seen a resurgence of recipes for no-churn ice cream. Lovely idea, but in practice? They suck. The problem is a simple one: most real ice creams are made from 14-23% cream. The rest is mostly milk, with sugar, maybe eggs, and some flavourings. These no-churn ice creams, however, are made from 2 main ingredients: heavy cream and condensed milk. Most published recipes claim that the air whipped into the cream substitutes effectively for the air churned into the mix when ice cream is made the traditional way. But the ratio of ingredients is very different from traditional ice cream: most recipes I've seen for no-churn ice cream consist of 65-75% heavy cream, and that's the problem.

They're far too heavy and thick in the mouth, coating your tongue and palate with oil. They don't even melt properly in the heat - they'll soften a bit, sure, but they stay largely solid. Many of the recipes I've tried are also overly sweet. They just taste and feel wrong in the mouth. Think about it this way - when was the last time you tried to eat a big ball of heavy whipped cream? Chances are not since you were 6, and left unsupervised in the kitchen. The reason for that is simple: eating a big ball of heavy cream isn't very nice. So the simple truth is that home-made ice cream requires a third ingredient, something to add the required extra air to the mix without adding extra fat or sugar. A simple solution is to use egg whites, whipped up into Italian meringue. It's an easy way to increase the volume of your mix and reduce the oiliness, however because the egg whites are only very lightly cooked by the meringue-making technique, I wouldn't serve this to pregnant women, very young children, or those with suppressed immune systems.

Recipe

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 large egg whites
flavourings and additions of your choice (a few options are below, but you can use whatever you like)

Flavouring 1: Salted peanut butter ice cream
2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup salted peanuts, chopped into large pieces
1/3 cup salted pretzels, chopped into pieces

Flavouring 2: Avocado chocolate ice cream
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks

Basic Technique (to be adapted as per the variations below):
1) Whip your egg whites until soft peaks form.
2) Heat the condensed milk until bubbling. Pour slowly over the egg whites, beating constantly, to form a bastardized Italian meringue. Set aside to cool.
3) Whip your cream, and fold 1/3 of the meringue mixture into the cream to lighten it, then fold the cream mixture into the rest of the meringue mixture, being careful not to over-mix and to avoid losing too much air.
4) Pour into a freezer-safe container, press a sheet of food-safe cling film directly onto the surface of the mixture (this is supposed to reduce ice-crystals forming on the surface, but I haven't investigated the science behind it), and freeze until solid (about 6-8 hours). Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before eating.

Salted peanut butter ice cream:
Heat your peanut butter to make it runny, cool slightly, and mix into the meringue mixture just before you add the cream. Fold in the peanuts and pretzels before freezing.

Avocado chocolate ice cream:
Mash the avocado well, until really smooth (a blender, food processor, or immersion blender can help with this). Mix into the cream just before you add the meringue mixture. Fold in the chocolate before freezing.

Makes: About 2 - 2.5 cups of ice cream