Last night I finally conquered a LIFE QUEST of mine – to make homemade ice cream! I have talked up a storm about churning out gallons and gallons of ice cream and FINALLY gave it a try. I’ll admit – when it all was said and done and I was staring at some honest to goodness ICE CREAM, I actually felt a little giddy. It was like a science experiment that produced some extremely delicious results!
I picked up the Cuisinart ICE-21 Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker which seemed to have decent reviews. The directions were fairly simple – place the freezer bowl in the freezer for 16-24 hours, mix the ingredients, chill them, assemble the machine and let it run for 15-20 minutes.
I decided to start out with a relatively easy recipe – strawberry ice cream. One thing I will advise – making ice cream is not something that you decide to make on a whim. That’s because there is a lot of prep time involved. The freezer bowl itself needs to freeze for up to a day. Then your ingredients need to chill before the churning process. So plan it out in advance and you’ll be in good shape. My recipe comes straight out of the booklet included with my ice cream maker – though I did increase the strawberry amount by 1/2 cup just because.
You will need:
2 cups fresh strawberries (rinsed, hulled)
3/4 cup whole milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1.5 cups heavy cream
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
How to make:
1. Place freezer bowl in freezer for 16-24 hours prior to mixing ingredients.
2. Chop strawberries into small pieces (size depends on preference). I used my trusty Pampered Chef chopper and it worked well.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together milk, sugar and salt until sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla. Stir in strawberries. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (I stuck mine in the freezer for about 45 minutes).
4. Place freezer bowl on the ice cream maker and pour mixture inside. Add the lid and mixing paddle and turn on.
5. Let mix until thickened – about 15-20 minutes.
6. I advise keeping an eye on your mixture every few minutes – we had a small mishap when I apparently let it mix for a few minutes too long. Oops!
7. But in the end, lo and behold, we had ice cream! REAL HONEST-TO-GOODNESS ICE CREAM! And guess what? IT WAS DELICIOUS!!
I couldn’t believe how much ice cream this recipe made! There were easily 10 half-cup servings, maybe more. When your ice cream is done, most of it will have a soft-serve consistency. If you like a harder ice cream, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
We ended up with enough ice cream for 3 or 4 nights worth of ice cream for the three of us to enjoy.
I’m thrilled with the taste, not to mention the cost. How cheap! The possibilities for flavor combinations are endless – my mind is already turning.
What are your favorite ice cream recipes? Share them in the comments!