The Easter Bunny is coming to town and this Jelly Bean Ice Cream is the perfect seasonal treat! With only 6 ingredients, it tastes just like the classic Easter candy and will be loved by both kids and adults alike.
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Jelly bean season is here! Isn't it kind of funny that "gourmet" jelly beans like Jelly Bellies are a year-round kind of thing, but regular old jelly beans are really just for Easter?
My husband is a huge jelly bean fan and we're not talking about the fancy ones. He just wants the sugary sweet, you can't even tell what flavor you're eating Easter bunny jelly beans.
We usually buy several bags each season and though I say I don't like them, I find myself mindlessly snacking on them while we eat television. So this year, I decided to turn them into a different sort of treat... Jelly bean ice cream!
💜 Why you'll love this recipe
If you love jelly beans, it's pretty obvious why you'll love this ice cream. It tastes just like jelly beans!
But even if you're not a big fan of the chewy little Easter candies, you might still love the seasonal novelty of this flavorful ice cream.
It's so fun to serve as an Easter dessert, but it's also the perfect solution for all those leftover jelly beans once the holiday is over. Both kids and adults will enjoy it.
🗒 Ingredients
This ice cream recipe only has 6 ingredients! It's pretty simple to make; you just need an ice cream maker (here's the one I recommend).
- Whole milk
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Large eggs
- Heavy cream
- Jelly beans (Some will be kept whole and should be uniform colors as they'll dye the ice cream. The others will be chopped and can be multi-colored.
🍦 How to make jelly bean ice cream
If you've ever made ice cream before, this will be super duper easy for you. And if you haven't made ice cream before, you'll quickly see how simple it is (and it may become a bit addicting... It is for me!).
This is a custard-based ice cream, which means you'll heat milk, sugar, and egg yolks to form the base. Then you'll combine the mixture with heavy cream. You'll let jelly beans infuse in the mixture while it chills and then process the ice cream.
To start, heat milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the mixture just reaches the point of simmer. Remove from heat.
In a separate medium heat-proof bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks.
Pour about half of the warm milk into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking while you do so.
This is called "tempering." You need to slowly dilute the egg yolks with the hot milk mixture because if you just add the yolks to the pot of hot milk, the eggs will scramble.
Now, pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon (or reaches a temperature of about 170 degrees).
Pour the heavy cream into a separate large bowl.
And strain the egg/milk mixture into the heavy cream and stir to combine.
Stir in whole jelly beans. I almost just threw in a whole bunch of jelly beans, but then realized the mixture would probably turn brown with all the colors combining.
So, I decided to use pink, orange, and red only. This ended up making the mixture a pretty peach color. You can use whatever jelly bean colors you choose!
Now you'll need to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Once mixture has been sufficiently chilled, process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.
When the ice cream is almost done hardening, mix in the chopped jelly beans. I added in a whole combination of colors here.
But I DID remove the black jelly beans. I happen to love black jelly beans, but I know not everyone does and I had a feeling they'd overpower the flavor of the ice cream.
The ice cream will still be a little soft at this point, so you'll want to scoop it into airtight containers and place in in the freezer for another 4+ hours, but ideally overnight.
And then it will be the perfect consistency and ready for you to enjoy!
How fun and festive does this look? And guess what? It tastes JUST like jelly beans. Even if I didn't mix chopped jelly beans into the ice cream, you'd immediately know this is jelly bean ice cream.
The chopped jelly beans do freeze in the ice cream and get a little hard, so it's good to warn anyone who's eating it (don't worry, I shared this ice cream with lots of friends and family members and it was totally fine).
While I think this is fun for people of all ages, kids will especially go crazy for it. Have you ever had bubblegum ice cream? This is a little bit similar with little bits of jelly beans in every bite.
Everyone knows Cadbury Eggs are the best Easter candy (and I have an ice cream for that, too!), but this ice cream is going to make everyone fall in love with jelly beans, too!
🍬 Can I use gourmet jelly beans?
Sure! You can use any kind of jelly beans you want for this ice cream and you can certainly use gourmet, but it will be a whole lot more expensive to make.
However, it would be so fun to pick a flavor of Jelly Belly and use it for the ice cream. I'd choose Juicy Pear! What's your favorite flavor?
🐰 Other Easter desserts
I love making (and eating) Easter treats as they're often packed with candy. And, in my opinion, Easter candy is the best holiday candy! Here are some of my favorite treats:
- Cadbury Egg Ice Cream (my other favorite Easter ice cream!)
- Eater Oreo Bark
- Cadbury Mini Egg Donuts
- Mini Easter Pavlovas
- Easter Candy Popcorn
- Cadbury Mini Egg Scones
- Rainbow Sherbet Meringues
- Carrot Cake Oreo Truffles
- Cadbury Egg Chocolate Cream Pie
- Rice Krispie Nests (from The Baking Chocolatess)
All of these treats are so fun for seasonal snacking or for serving with Easter brunch or dinner.
If you love the sweet, fruity flavor of jelly beans, you need to try this jelly bean ice cream this Easter season!
Do you like jelly beans?
📖 Recipe
Jelly Bean Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup whole jelly beans (uniform colors)
- 1 cup roughly chopped jelly beans (any colors)
Instructions
- Heat milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the mixture just reaches the point of simmer. Remove from heat.
- In a separate medium heat-proof bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Pour about half of the warm milk into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking while you do so. Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
- Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon (or reaches a temperature of about 170 degrees).
- Pour the heavy cream into a separate large bowl. Strain the egg/milk mixture into the heavy cream and stir to combine. Stir in whole jelly beans. I chose to use pink, orange, and red jelly beans so the mixture would turn a nice color, but you can use the colors of your choice. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
- Once mixture has been sufficiently chilled, process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is almost done hardening, mix in the chopped jelly beans.
- Scoop ice cream in airtight containers and place in the freezer for another 4+ hours, but ideally overnight.
- Scoop into bowls and enjoy. Note that the jelly beans in the ice cream get a little hard in the freezer, so take care when biting into them.
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