Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream (No Churn, No Machine)

I love Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.

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I can’t remember a time when I’ve not loved them, having come across them in the USA during childhood trips. I didn’t know their history until now, though. The company that makes them was born back in 1869, when two German brothers emigrated to America and set up an ice cream and candy store in Belleville, Illinois. They weren’t responsible for the invention of jelly beans, thought to be inspired by Turkish delight, but they started making them in the late 1800s are certainly strongly associated with them today. In the 1970s, they introduced a range made with only natural flavourings, and the first eight Jelly Belly flavours were born.

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These days, there are many more flavours than 8!

Recently, I was sent a box of their Original 50 – flavours which are made and sold all year round. In addition to these, they also make a sugar-free range, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans (based on flavours from the Harry Potter books), the Sours range and branded ones such as Snapples and Cadbury Schweppes flavours. There are also a number of “rookie” flavours that are being trialled, some of which may make it into the long term top 50 list, if they prove popular enough. I wish I could try honey bean, mojito and mint chocolate chip, from the current list of rookies!

The reason I love these beans is how vivid and accurate the flavours are. They all taste of what they should, rather than the cheap and synthetic flavourings used in many sweets.

Looking for a way of showcasing the range of flavours, I decided to make a Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream.

The thick, creamy texture and slightly caramel flavour of a condensed milk and double cream no churn base seemed like it would be a good fit.

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Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream (No Churn, No machine)

Ingredients

  • 300 ml double cream
  • 125 ml condensed milk
  • 100 assorted Jelly Belly jelly beans

Recipe Notes

Note: I used two each of every flavour in the box except for cinnamon and liquorice, which I don’t like.

Instructions

  • Whisk the cream until it is thick but still a little floppy.

  • Add the condensed milk and whisk again until it holds its shape.

  • Fold in the jelly beans.

  • Spoon into a freezer container or a loaf tin lined with clingfilm and freeze overnight.

  • Turn the ice cream out of the container or tin (peel off the clingfilm) and slice to serve.

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Once frozen, the shells of the jelly beans harden, so it’s like biting down on hard toffee, with a wonderfully chewy interior. We really liked the contrast between the soft creamy ice cream and the harder beans.

(Because the beans become harder, this recipe may not be suitable for very young children or those who can’t chew hard toffee-like textures).

IceCreamChallenge

Kavey Eats received a review sample of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!
25 Comments to "Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Ice Cream (No Churn, No Machine)"

  1. Mia Spencer

    This sounds delicious! Def going to make with the little girl – sounds like a wow pudding. I heart jelly beans too. And love the no churn.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Don’t forget to warn her the beans will harden, so they’ll have a tougher shell and the inside is chewy like hard toffee. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Snigdha

    Hello Kavey,

    WOW! No churning and no machine sounds like MY kind of ice cream!

    The vivid colours of the beans against the cream looks sensational. Like a Tutti Frutti, but better.

    Great post!

    love
    Snigdha
    xx

    Reply
  3. Dom

    what a brilliant idea… and so colourful… and a different flavour in every bite… I love it… you could do stripes of flavour too!… fab idea x

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    yes, you definitely could, the cut the slices the other way so everyone had each flavour for sure!

    Reply
  4. Karen

    What a BANG ON idea for an ice cream, and it’s also SO pretty too! I have a jelly bean fetish (no, not that bad!!) and this ice cream has my name all over it! Karen

    Reply
  5. Tomi

    Hi Kavey, Jelly Belly headquarters here! You certainly have given us something to think about. In our tests with ice cream the jelly beans have turned rock hard–we’ve tried home recipes and given the challenge to ice cream manufacturers. The results have always been the same — too too hard to eat.
    Generally we guide people away from incorporating them INTO the ice cream and instead suggest Jelly Belly beans as TOPPINGS. We are going back to the kitchen to see if your no churn recipe makes a difference. This is one for the scientists to figure out.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    How weird! Ours froze overnight, a little over 24 hours, so I don’t think they would have got any harder. The shells were hard, but the insides were still chewy, like hard toffee.

    It may be the difference between domestic and commercial – perhaps you have to freeze down to a lower temperature for commercial ones?

    Reply
  6. Becs @ Lay the table

    You’re so lucky to get Jelly Belly’s – if we got them they’d disappear before I got a chance to make anything! Love the icecream idea – going to give the no churn icecream a go I think, saves faffing about freezing the bowl.

    Reply
  7. Jasmine

    I made this for a birthday party last night and it went down REALLY well (even with the poor 16 year old with braces). I’ll definitely be trying out other flavours with the condensed milk and cream base. Thanks Kavey!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Am very pleased everyone enjoyed it so much, thanks for letting me know. Also feel reassured that the jelly beans didn’t go “too too hard” as per Jelly Belly’s own experiments, as ours definitely retained some chewiness, albeit like hard toffee not soft. Really glad you liked it, Jaz!

    Reply
  8. Marika

    Thank you so much for the recipe. The size of cans of condensed milk we get is perfect for a double batch of this. The Jelly Beans stayed nice and chewy for us as well and the family dog was only too pleased to lick all tubs and bowls. I think the basic ice cream mass is really nice by itself and only my very vivid imagination is the limit for what to mix in. Have you tried it out with other things apart from JBs? Thanks again, trying this out really made my week!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Marika, really glad the recipe worked for you and that the beans stayed nice and chewy for you too.

    Makes one wonder what Jelly Belly were doing wrong when they tried to make ice creams themselves?!

    I’ve used that same base recipe with pieces of honeycomb (cinder toffee), plain with some vanilla extract added and with some strawberry sauce mixed in. It’s a great base, so quick and so easy to make. Really versatile.

    Enjoy!

    Reply

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