When I was little I remember making home made ice cream around Christmas time. We had an electric ice cream maker and fed the bucket with rock salt and icicles we knocked off the roof. I don’t remember us making anything other than vanilla ice cream but always looked forward to the event since we only had this treat one or two times each winter.
But now I’m spoiled. With a little bit of planning I can make fresh ice cream all year long (spoiler…just keep some heavy cream and half-n-half in the fridge)
My next “Favorite Products” I wanted to share is the Breville Ice Cream Maker (not a sponsor). It was a Christmas present to “us” a few years ago. It has a built in cooling system so ice and salt are not required. We have made ice cream, gelato, and even had success with making wine slushies! So let’s talk about how easy it is to use.
There are many different ways to prepare your ingredients or supplies and some state that affects the taste or quality of the ice cream. I can’t really tell the difference and I found that the simplest method produces an ice cream that meets my standards.
For this ice cream maker just add the following directly into the machine:
-2 cups heavy or whipping cream
-2/3 cup half-n-half
-3/4 cup sugar
-(For French Vanilla, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract)
Just add the ingredients and press start. About 45 minutes later you will have vanilla ice cream. How soft or hard you want the ice cream is selected on the control panel. Can’t get much easier than that!
Now, if you want something other than just plain old vanilla, it only takes a few extra steps. Just before the ice cream is finished the machine will beep telling you it’s the right time to add extras – like chocolate chips or nuts.
For example, for a Maple Walnut, add 1/2 cup grade C maple syrup and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts when you hear the beep. There are lots of recipes and I found a book from Ben and Jerry’s that has provided many options to try.
You can even mix liquors in at the end if you like. One of my favorites is to add Kahlua and Amaretto, just add about 1/4 cup of each.
Once after a trip to the Finger Lakes we decided we should try to make our own wine slushies. Basically 2 cups of wine and about 1/2 cup of sugar or simple syrup (adjust to your taste). Just like the ice cream this is a set and forget.
Since it takes less than an hour you can have it running while everyone is eating you can have fresh ice cream ready at the end of your meal. I will admit you probably won’t want to have this operating near your guests since it is a little noisy, so I have it working in another room while we are eating. If you want to hear how loud it is, here is a video of it operating…
One last thing I wanted to mention is around the reviews of the product. When I was researching this for Karen’s gift (ok, it might have been more for me) I saw a lot of reviews complaining that the delivered unit didn’t work, it wouldn’t cool down enough. People either loved it or hated it, but the bad reviews were always around the cooling aspects of the product. The freezer unit isn’t any different than any other compressor system so I wondered if it wasn’t more of a shipping problem. I’m not making this up, when mine arrived it had been packed in the shipping box upside down. I know it had been in shipment for several days and the engineer in me knew that if I powered it up it would fail. I notified the shipper of the error but took a chance by just setting it right side up for a week, providing more than ample time for the oils and gasses to reorient themselves. I guess that worked because we have been using it for several years without a problem. And you just can’t beat fresh ice cream!
Fantastic recipe and suggestions. My wife and I will definitely be incorporating some of these pointers during the summertime. Thanks neighbor!