Raised on Ice Cream

Cool treats for a hot summer!  Everyone come and get it!

We are so enjoying our Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

 Blend the cream and sugar for at least 2 hours in advance before making.  I use the good vanilla!

 Salt is such an essential.  When I forget it, the difference shows.  Even though it's such a small amount.  I think there's a gospel application there.

 Home grown strawberries, so full of flavor.  This is going to be jam, but before it gets turned into jam --

 I take out some of the mashed berries, no sugar or anything added just mashed and save to put in towards the end of churning.

Maker - Yum!  Thanks again and again for such a gift.  We are happy to share if any of y'all ever come our way.

The first strawberry I made I just put the whole strawberries in at about the last three minutes.  Eating the soft ice cream right then, it tasted fine, but then after freezing, they turned hard, like strawberry ice cubes in the ice cream.  Mashing the strawberries and then adding them in the last three minutes or so was the much better option.

This is the basic recipe for a vanilla based ice cream.

2 C heavy whipping cream

2/3 C sugar

1 T vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

Put into quart jar and shake a little to blend.  Fill remaining space in jar with milk or more cream.

Let it sit in fridge for at least two hours or overnight.

I had a couple of tries with a chocolate base and my last attempt was the creamiest.  I made a chocolate type of "paste" with butter, honey and cocoa.  Put it in fridge to cool, but then it got so firm.  When I mixed it with cream, the lump wouldn't dissolve, so I blended it in the blender, and it whipped up like chocolate whip cream.  I added a little milk and let it sit in fridge again.  Then at churning time, it was still thick and whipped-cream-like and the result was very creamy and smooth ice cream.

I got some half and half on special and I decided to use it to do a butter pecan for Father's Day.  I used brown sugar instead of white and added the pecans at the last few minutes. I have often used half cream and half milk. Well I'm not sure what qualifies half and half as half and half, because this tasted like thin ice milk.  It seems it was more like 75% skim milk and 25% cream or less.  Such disappointment.  So I learned to not use half and half again.