WITH summer allegedly just around the corner, our thoughts should be turning to cooling foods - and what better way than a delicious, homemade ice cream - without the need of an expensive piece of kit. Here, Jane Rogers, who teaches on a variety of subjects at Craven College, including the BA (Hons) English and creative writing, shares with us her ice cream recipe.

ICE cream isn’t what you might call a diet food - but let’s face it most us like it. And if you’re going to eat it, don’t you want to know exactly what you’re getting? I like to see all my E-numbers before I allow them access to my stomach. So surely the fewer ingredients the better?

This recipe is what my kids (they’re all grown-up and feel they can express an opinion!) call ‘your ice cream’.

This term suggests a deeply-guarded family secret. Unfortunately the truth is that the ice cream is probably my recipe because no-one else can bear the thought of owning up to making anything with so many calories.

Why call yourself health freak then I hear you ask?

Well, why not! In general I think I eat healthily - that is, food I have cooked myself or that isn’t mucked about with too much.

Making your own ice-cream and eating it three or five times a year with your daughters’ home-made sticky toffee pudding (thanks Jen and Nen) is relatively healthy isn’t it?

Plus, it’s got you thinking.

So here's a recipe. Despite the long introduction this ice-cream is embarrassingly easy.

You will need:

One pint tub (500ml) of double cream

One tin of condensed milk (Nestlé’s, Fussel’s either will do)

Three of four drops of vanilla essence

Now comes the hard bit.

1. Whip the cream.

I have an electric whisk. I always feel a bit 1950s when I plug it in. Maybe I should don gingham apron and fake smile?

If you don’t have an electric whisk just use a hand-held one. The cream will thicken as you whisk. The exercise is good for you too.

You need to whisk the cream until it is (as the common terminology tells us) in soft peaks. To test this, the recipe books always tell you to turn the bowl upside down. That sounds a bit risky to me.

Would it help then that it wouldn’t matter overmuch if you under-whisked it? Yep? Well, it makes no difference. Basically you just need to thicken the cream a bit.

2. Hopefully you get the picture now. This recipe is so easy that I am trying to stretch it out. Make it look like hard work.

This is also what you need to do when you give it to guests. Try reverse psychology. You could say, “Oh dahhling! This was just thrown together!”

They (obviously) will think you’re being modest. In truth you’re exaggerating the time you spent in the kitchen and (maybe) the time you are prepared to spend on your family or friends.

Anyway, back to step two. Mix the tin of condensed milk into the whipped cream. Yes, just mix the two together.

3. And then stir in three or four drops of vanilla essence.

4. Pour into a plastic tub with a lid.

5. Freeze overnight.

And that’s it.

No stirring mid-freeze.

No mucking about with ice particles,

Just freeze and eat.

OK, so it might not be too healthy. But it’s nearly summer and the sun’s nearly shining. Enjoy.