Ice Cream MADNESS!
We made the first Ice Cream of the season last night. Cub declared it 'the best ice cream ever!'.
It's a pretty simple recipe -
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
The original recipe called for heavy cream, but I am getting old I don't need that extra fat. I wouldn't suggest going down to 2% or Skim milk, it just won't have that mouth feel.
That's it .. for the base. Now you add what you want for flavoring and chunks.
I decided to raid the secret stash of Thin mint cookies in the freezer. We used a whole sleeve but I think you could cut back if you wanted to (YEA RIGHT!). I put them in the blender and ground them up for a second or two, it left some chunks and pulverized a bit.Of course there were a few cookies a piece that we had to 'test' for freshness. They were A-OK.
So make your base, and put it in the fridge and let it cool down. I recommend making it the night before. The colder the mix is the quicker and thicker the ice cream will be initially. It will look and feel like Ice Cream and not frozen milk right out of the mixer.
Really that's what it is all about,that first taste you get right out of the mixer. Standing around the island scooping some into the bowls, some into the container, more into the bowls, less into the container .. so on and so forth.
Our directions on our ice cream maker indicate to start the machine and then add the mix, please be sure to consult your instructions to get the highest satisfaction. Cub and I let it run for about 15 minutes and then added the crumbled thin mints. Let this go for another 5 minutes or so.
Use this time wisely. Get your bowls out, your favorite ice cream spoons, and a container to use for the rest of the ice cream. This one will need to be a freezer proof container. Try to make sure that it wont be too big for the remainders. When you put the ice cream in that container take a piece of plastic wrap and push it down on top. That will help guard against freezer burn and those ugly freezer smells.
I think next time we are going to try a sorbet, or my favorite ... sherbet!
Enjoy!
Dave
