Quickly, while you have a spare moment, think of your five favourite desserts. I’ll wait…  OK, now tell me – does ice cream feature anywhere on your list?

No? I can’t say that I’m surprised.  

Too often we overlook the joy that is ice cream. Part of the problem is that it’s so much more than a dessert – it’s a treat;  it’s an indulgence; it’s even that thing that makes apple pie à la mode. Ice cream – and its cousins sorbet, gelato, semifreddo, parfait and granita – is one of humankind’s greatest achievements, rivalling even the pyramids, the internal combustion engine, and the machine that slices those cotton-wool-like loaves of cheap white bread. (I still haven’t worked out how they do that; it’s just so puffy and soft!)

The trouble is, it’s tricky to make great ice cream at home – unless you happen to have some liquid nitrogen or dry ice on hand (or, yes, one of those expensive ice cream machines). While this is good news for the ever-expanding array of fancy gelato shops in our cities, it does make me a slave to the freezer aisle of my local supermarket. 

It also makes me ever-nervous about the strange ingredients that go into some of our favourite cheap commercial tubs around the world. Palm oil, seaweed-based stabilisers or stuff like diglycerides are often more common than actual cream in some brands. Manufacturers in the UK even asked for approval to use the blood of the North Atlantic pout (it’s an eel-like fish) in their ice creams. This is a country where the food standard authority only requires ice cream to have a minimum of just 2.5 per cent milk protein and an additional minimum 5 per cent of dairy fat to qualify as “dairy ice cream”.

How good would it be to know exactly what went into your next ice cream? How good would it be to make your own ice cream at home without the expensive whirring of a compressor or the battle to find space in your already-overfilled freezer for a bulky canister that needs to be pre-chilled before use?

There’s a solution – and it’s far better than trudging back to the freezer every hour to mash a setting mix with a fork, especially as it never results in the smooth ice cream you were dreaming of. In fact, there are several solutions for making ice cream and sorbets at home. Here are my six favourite easy ice creams and soft serves to make at home.

COCONUT SOFT SERVE

For a really simple coconut ice cream, freeze 400ml coconut milk and 200ml sweetened condensed milk. Once they’re both fully frozen, blend them together to make a soft, airy ice cream. For a firmer set, scoop and freeze again. This goes great with grilled bananas or pineapple.

COUNTRY VANILLA

I learnt this recipe from an old acquaintance who had seen a bit. It predates home ice-cream machines and is super simple. Just whisk together 1 tsp vanilla extract, a 395g can of sweetened condensed milk and 600ml thickened cream. When soft peaks form, gently pour into a container and freeze.

NIGELLA’S COFFEE ICE CREAM 

This recipe from domestic goddess Nigella Lawson plays on the same idea as above, by whisking together 300ml double cream with 175g condensed milk, 2 tbs quality instant coffee and 2 tbs coffee liqueur. When soft peaks form, split it between two containers to freeze (or place it in one wide, shallower container for a faster set). If you can’t find double cream, use thickened cream, but Nigella suggests beating it separately until soft peaks form, before whisking in the other ingredients.

FROZEN FRUITS

You can make a simple sorbet by blitzing 500g of your chosen frozen fruit with a little (about 40g) sugar to sweeten. While the blender is whirling, add an egg white to aerate the frozen mixture. This works really well with raspberries, strawberries or frozen chunks of mango. Buy these already frozen, or freeze them yourself. For an exotic twist, add unique flavourings like anise seeds with the frozen strawberries, or green peppercorns to the mango.

A BOOZY BLEND

For an adults-only ice cream, make a sour cherry sorbet by blending a drained 680g jar of Morello cherries with about 70g sugar and two egg whites, then freeze. Or make a peach sorbet with a drained 825g can of peach slices, about 40g of sugar and two egg whites. After blitzing those together, add ¼ cup cream to make this sorbet taste more like a peaches-and-cream ice cream. Add a splash of bourbon to make it taste like Southern Comfort.

YOGHURT AND GINGER PARFAIT 

This parfait-like ice cream is the invention of the Clarks, the genius husband-and-wife team behind London restaurant Moro, and uses a sort of cheat’s Italian meringue as the base. Mix three large egg whites with 200g caster sugar over a pot of simmering water until the mixture reaches 80°C (this will take three minutes or so). Pour into a bowl and whisk until cool and fluffy (this will take about 15 minutes). Now fold this meringue into 750g of Greek yoghurt along with a handful of chopped candied ginger and little dollops of ginger marmalade, folding gently so they barely combine, and then freeze. Serve this slightly icy treat in slices or scoops with a spiced poached apple compote or baklava.