I scream; you scream; we all scream for...

From Daryl aka Avery:

First of all, congrats to Karen C who won Hannah Dennison's giveaway on Sunday! Enjoy the read & the tea towel.

I adore ice cream. I truly believe I could eat ice cream morning, noon, and night. I’ve heard of diets like this and people lose weight. Probably because they get sick of eating only ice cream. It can’t be good for the body. But an occasional bowl of ice cream or even a sly spoonful from the freezer is a good thing. I have told my husband that it’s “medicine.” It sooths my stomach. It makes me smile. All good things.

Ice cream isn’t hard to make. You need a good countertop machine. I use a Cuisinart.

By the way, I made the “vanilla ice cream” recipe…and because I have two Cuisinarts (I moved across country and couldn’t live without the one in storage), I split the mixture into two batches, pouring half into one freezer and the other half into the other freezer. I made one with the pecan sauce and one with strawberry sauce. [See recipes below.] I have to say that I think the ice cream “froze” better and held its consistency better because I used a half-batch.

So my thought on this…If you only have one countertop ice cream maker—most people only have one—you can make a whole batch of the vanilla ice cream. Then use half to make your choice of ice cream and keep the rest of the vanilla mixture in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to make another batch, the next day for example, you can then use the prepared mixture. Make sense?

VANILLA ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

I use:  Cuisinart Counter top Mixer.

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

½ cup half and half

½ cup mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)

2 cups whipping cream

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Stir together and cook yolks and 1 c. sugar in saucepan, 30 seconds on low.

Add half and half and mascarpone. Cook 1 minute on low. Stir and cook 1 more minute. Stir and cook 1 additional minute.  [Total 3 ½ to 5 minutes.] [Note: if using cream cheese, you might have to whisk the mixture.]

Add whipping cream, salt and vanilla. Stir and let cool to room temperature.

Chill 1-3 hours in refrigerator

Then:

Start counter top mixer.  Add ice cream mixture.  Whip 20 minutes, according to ice cream maker directions.

At this point, you can add any sauce *see below (or no sauce) and continue to whirl for another 5 minutes.

Pour into clean containers and freeze.

Yum!

WITH PECAN SAUCE

At the twenty minute mark, add 1/2 cup of the pecan sauce below to the vanilla ice cream mixture per above directions.

MAPLE PECAN SAUCE

(prepare ahead)

Ingredients:

1 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the whipping cream and pure maple syrup. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low, and continue to “boil” for 10-12 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir occasionally. [Note: this is a candy, so do not let the mixture go past the caramel color stage. If so, it will burn and you’ll have to start over. So pay attention the last 5 minutes.]

Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped pecans.

Cover and chill the sauce until ready to serve. Stir once before serving over cake, ice cream, fresh pears, and more!

WITH STRAWBERRY SAUCE

At the 20 minute mark, add 1/2 cup of the strawberry sauce below to the vanilla ice cream mixture per above directions.

STRAWBERRY SAUCE/JAM

(prepare ahead)

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped strawberries

3 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:

Hull, rinse, and chop strawberries to small sizes. Measure 3 cups.

Mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in 8-quart saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Then raise the temperature and bring the mixture to a full boil. Pay attention because sugar CAN boil up and over the pot. Not fun! If necessary, spoon off the pink foam that rises to the top.

Boil, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until a candy thermometer reads 220 degrees.

Remove from heat. Cool and refrigerate.  

Note: I shared this recipe before, when I made a jam and Monterey Jack grilled cheese.

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