We are ice cream fanatics and snobs. There is always at least 2 quarts of ice cream in our house. We eat it at least 4 nights a week (another reason we both run so much). If it's box store bought, it's Breyers. If it's not Breyers, it's Vale Wood. If it's cake, it's Dairy Queen (got a peanut butter cup one for my birthday that was awesome!).
For Father's Day this year, I thought it would be neat to make our own ice cream. I did great a really nice ice cream maker, but the whole making ice cream part isn't really an activity for the whole family. It's not like we are cranking a wooden crank with the ice and rock salt freezing the ice cream. It's an electric mixer that does all the work for you. It's fairly noisy too. But, it does a good job, so I really can't complain. It's pretty much become a toy for me to play with (like I needed another).
I have made quite a few batches now and am finding that there is a certain learning curve. It took me 3 batches to perfect my vanilla recipe. This was a key one to get right since it's by far Kevin's most favorite flavor. I guess I should add that ALL the ice cream flavors we eat start with a vanilla base. Neither of us is a chocolate fan. I believe there is one exception to this rule. I started with a recipe I found online (All Recipes - my favorite website for finding recipes) and tweak my technique and the recipe based on reviews and our personal preference. Now Kevin says it's his prefered vanilla (used to be Breyers Natural Vanilla).
Making gelato was a new experience. The first time I had inferior equipment which resulted in making green tea flavored scrambled eggs. Needless to say, that got thrown out! The second attempt was considerably better and resulted in a nice creamy Green Tea Gelato. It was good, but not my favorite. I think a Chai Tea Latte flavor may be really tasty.
Over the weekend, we went up to the cabin. On the property around the cabin are tons of wild blackberry bushes. We picked about 3 cups to bring home. I was thinking of making just a blackberry ice cream, but instead decided to make a blackberry cheesecake ice cream. The cheesecake ice cream was easy...I just took my vanilla base recipe and added in a box of instant cheesecake pudding. That made for a really thick and creamy custard like base all without having to worry about tempering eggs! Then I made a syrupy sauce with the blackberries. I swirled the sauce, graham cracker crust pieces, and the cheesecake ice cream together. I need to work on my swirling technique, but it was still delicious!
Making our own ice cream has been fun to do, even if it's not the family fun time I thought it would be. It's been interesting to experiment with different flavors and techniques. We'll see what fun (or interesting) flavors we come up with next! Family and friends may even be subjected to my ice cream around holidays.
On a side note, it's been a long time coming, but our next experiment in home creations will be beer! We just need to get our butts in gear to figure out what kind to make and get the ingredients for it. Stay tuned!
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