Home Cooking: You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Homemade Ice Cream

Fancy Kitchen Gadget

The LOs and I made homemade chocolate ice cream (with chocolate chips) using the new Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt/Sorbet Maker my dear mother-in-law gave us on Wednesday.You can find it on Amazon although my MIL bought it at Costco's while her tire was being replaced. 

I was super excited, because while I do not consider myself anything close to a chef, I sure do love my "fancy" kitchen gadgets.Check out my pantry for evidence of the history of gadgets purchased or received, from the Magic Bullet to a waffle maker to my favorite, the Kitchen Aid stand mixer.At least for a moment, when the gadget is mixing or chopping or waffling, I feel like a pro.

And what's even better, the LOs love to help me use these gadgets, so it becomes a fun, bonding experience, a major production, in which everyone from little to big plays a part.One LO pours in an ingredient, the other scrapes the sides of the mixing bowl.Everyone gets to stick their fingers in the concoction (as long as it's safe and not piping hot, of course!) and have a taste. 

I whipped out the instruction manual almost immediately (after thanking MIL profusely) and was struck by the limited number of ingredients needed and brevity of the directions.This was going to be so easy!Lightning fast!  We'd churn out a fresh batch of chocolate ice cream in a day, without question.  It states the preparation takes an hour, plus 25-30 minutes chilling time.  There are an optional 2 hours to "ripen" the ice cream in the freezer, but we weren't going to need that.

Then I read the Bowl Preparation section (a few pages before the mouth-watering recipes).There is a freezer bowl in which your ingredients rest during the ice cream making process and this needs to be frozen.It should be in the freezer for at least 6-22 hours to ensure adequate frozen-ness.  Well, this was going to set us back a bit.Day 1 was spent wrapping the freezer bowl in a plastic bag to prevent freezer burn and jamming it into our deep freezer.We would not be sampling homemade ice cream just yet.The LOs and I shopped for the ingredients we did not have at home (heavy cream and semi-sweet chocolate) and I threw a tub of store-bought chocolate chip ice cream in the cart because it just didn't seem fair not to enjoy some ice cream that day, too.

Day 2 our freezer bowl was ready, so the LOs and I met at the kitchen counter.I read the recipe.Heat the milk until bubbling around the edges.OK, that was going to be my job.The sugar and the chocolate needed blended, so I brought out yet another fancy kitchen gadget, our handy blender and a favorite of the kids.They took turns pulsing until the chocolate was chopped and the sugar was well-blended.It smelled like a really rich cocoa mix.Once the milk was bubbling, I dumped that in.More blending.Still hadn't used the actually ice cream maker yet.The sugar/chocolate/milk mixture needed to cool completely.I put the mixture in the fridge and we headed to the sprinklers.

Later we added the cream and vanilla.With these additions, the mixture needed 30 or more minutes of further chilling.Still hadn't used the fancy ice cream maker.The LOs seemed unaffected by this fact but I was growing impatient.  What good is a fancy kitchen gadget if you never get to use it?

Finally,the mixture was chilled.Into the ingredient spout it went, the ice cream maker was turned on, the freezer bowl began spinning. I set the timer the requisite 25-30 minutes of spinning.Five minutes before the end we added mini-chocolate chips.Time for the big reveal...but our ice cream was still liquidy.The manual recommends further ripening the dessert in the freezer for up to 2 hours.Fine, as long as we get to eat some of this before the day is through.The ice cream went into an air-tight container and into the deep freezer.I dreamed of how good that chocolate-y concoction would taste while cleaning out the parts.

Two hours later,it was still like thick soup.In fact,in my eagerness to check it,I whipped open the container and spilled about 1/2 a cup.Back into the freezer it went with a prayer to the gods of freezing that it would be frozen by dinner.

What the ice cream looked like once it had been out a while

It was, sort of.When we spooned it into the dishes it started to melt but it really did look like ice cream.  The next night, after an additional day of hardening, it had that ice cream consistency we'd grown to know and love.It was super chocolate-y, so I think next time we'll use a bit less chocolate.We even had marshmallow and hot fudge toppings but they were not necessary.This recipe was sweet.The LOs loved it and now that I know all of the steps that are required, I'll be a lot better prepared for our next batch (one would hope!).  In the interest of a slightly healthier treat, I think we'll try frozen yogurt next time (1/2 cup of the ice cream recipe equals 370 calories and 25g of fat...yikes!).It is likely more cost-efficient and less time-consuming to buy store-bought (ya think??) but given that we got the appliance for free, it really was a fun way to start making some summer memories.