A Conversation for Irresistible Ice Creams

Ice cream makers

Post 1

Mysterious Mr X

I picked up one of these last weekend. Maybe it's just me but ice cream tastes nicer if you've made it yourself.


Ice cream makers

Post 2

Mysterious Mr X

If we're starting simple, you can't get more simple than vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients for a small ice cream maker (makes almost 1/2 litre):
400ml milk (can substitute some or all the milk for double cream)
3 egg yolks
70g sugar
seeds from a vanilla pod or a drop of vanilla essence

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat them in. Then pour them into the ice cream maker. 30-40 minutes later it's ready. Pour into a tub and transfer to the freezer for use as and when necessary.


Ice cream makers

Post 3

Rains - Wondering where time's going and why it's in so much of a hurry!

I've been contemplating an ice cream maker, but I just don't have the kitchen cupboard space for one smiley - laugh. They take a lot of the effort out, and I'd love to experiment with the real ice cream mixes using eggs and cream, too.

In the meantime, I've been experimenting with frozen yoghurts and fresh fruit - if you've got a blender, it's incredibly easy.

1) Pick your fruit - whatever you like, in whatever combinations you like and however much you like. My first batch was strawberry and blueberry, and my second batch was raspberry and blackberry. I'm contemplating mango and kiwi for the next lot.

One thing - if the fruit has lots of seeds (like blackberries and raspberries) it's well worth pureeing them separately and then sieving to get rid of most of the seeds. It seems like a lot of effort but it's worth it!

2) Pick your yoghurt. I've tended to use plain low-fat yoghurts, but again, normal ones should do, even already flavoured if you fancy it. Personally, I like to use Greek yoghurt as I like the taste smiley - biggrin.

I've found that two 500g tubs will fill a 1l ice cream tub - but it does depend on the volume of fruit you've used, too.

3) Dig out your blender (be it a hand blender, a jug blender, or a food processor) and combine the ingredients together. Bit by bit is defintely easier and produces a smoother mix than all at once. This is also the ideal point to add sugar, sweetener or honey to sweeten the mixture - keep adding and tasting until you get a mix which tastes good. I tend to use honey rather than sugar as it mixes better.

4) Find an appropriately sized tub and pour in the mix. Put it in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5) Here comes the hard work. In order to get a smooth, relatively soft freeze, you need to keep breaking down the ice crystals. (The larger the crystals, the harder the ice cream and the rougher its texture.) Roughly every 30 minutes, you need to take the tub out and mash it up and give it a good stir; I tend to use a fork, and when it gets quite frozen I also use a potato masher. I also use it very gently, as the possibilities for splatter are endless. I made quite a mess with my first batch!

6) I can't honestly say how long you need to repeat this for, but I've found that after about 3-4 hours it's getting pretty hard to mash up, so at that point it's best to let it freeze solid.

7) Voila! You have frozen fruit yoghurt. It's best to take it out of the fridge maybe 10 minutes before you want to eat it, as it can be somewhat solid.

My first batch, which I let freeze too long and hence was very crystalline, had to be microwaved on defrost for a minute or two before it was soft enough to actually dent the surface with a spoon smiley - laugh. My second batch, which has more mixing in the freezing process, is much better.


Ice cream makers

Post 4

kelli - ran 2 miles a day for 2012, aiming for the same for 2013

MrMaven - I've used a very similar recipe but we allways cook the custard first before putting it into the blender - the method would be to heat the milk/cream with the vanilla seeds/pod in it and leave to infuse for a while, then beat he yolks and sugar together and add the milk/cream. Gently heat this mixture until it coats the back of a spoon then let it cool right down. Once it iscool *then* bung it in the icecream maker smiley - ok

I've done a fair few fruit/yoghurt combos this summer - they are quicker than making a custard and healthier if you use low fat yoghurt instead of cream smiley - cool


Ice cream makers

Post 5

Mysterious Mr X

The yoghurt recipes sound scrummy, may have to give them a go next time I'm making some.smiley - smiley


Ice cream makers

Post 6

Rains - Wondering where time's going and why it's in so much of a hurry!

As Kelli says, they are a lot quicker, and they can be healthier too smiley - angel.

Although I wouldn't use that as an excuse to eat more of them, though!


Key: Complain about this post