We all scream for...

[gwyn]

ice cream. Yes, yes we do. I made my first-ever batch of homemade ice cream last night. And by that I mean that I have never eaten homemade ice cream nor have I made it at home. I mean, sure, I've had ice cream that was made by hand by someone at a restaurant, but I've never had it made by someone I know in a... home. So it was not only fun, but highly educational.

My dad bought me a KitchenAid stand mixer for my b-day last year, which I really didn't want because I couldn't see myself using it (since baking is scary), and then he topped it off by getting me, instead of the thing I really wanted, an ice-cream-making attachment for it. Like I need ice cream. I have enough trouble trying to keep my weight down -- I might as well just sit down and eat some butter sticks. He's been hoping to make some for a long time but I kept putting him off because it seemed tedious and annoying, like most cooking is. I'm getting better at it, but cooking is still hard. People lie to me all the time about this: "Oh, cooking is easy once you get started." Liars whose pants are ON FIRE. People for whom cooking comes naturally say this to people like me all the time and I hope their noses grow so long they can't get through revolving doors next time.

But last night he came over to work on the batter part. He also got me the Ben & Jerry's ice cream book, which, though the sweet cream custard base is really simple and doesn't require cooking (yay!), mostly has recipes for ice cream with junk in it. As B&J's does. I will say right here, and I'm sure many people will recoil in horror at my heresy, that I don't like ice cream with junk in/on it. Nuts, maybe. But cookies, candy, and just... stuff, does not float my heavy cream and egg yolks boat. I like it purer. The only kind I like with junk in it is Rocky Road; even chocolate chip mint where the chocolate chips are actual chips/chunks as opposed to flecks of said chips/chunks is too much for me. I don't mind strips of other flavors -- for instance, I love ribbons of peanut butter, or honey, or something in the ice cream. But keep your sprinklies off my ice cream! (Unless they are the aforementioned nuts.)

Years ago, Dreyer's made this wonderful vanilla almond ice cream that I put chocolate sauce on and it was like having a sundae; now I can make my own. Dad and I just went with vanilla last night since that seemed like a good starter one. Next up is chocolate, of course. Then coconut, I think, although I've looked up recipes for honey lavender ice cream, which I had at this French bistro downtown, and it was the most heavenly thing I've ever put in my mouth (to paraphrase Buffy). Many of the recipes I found were way too complex, but there are a few that might be worth trying. Still, they involve cooking. Feh.

It definitely takes a lot of time. Poor dad had to go home and come back later tonight in order to enjoy the finally frozen fruits (creams?) of our labor because it takes quite a while to set. But it's glorious now that it has. It seems to melt a bit faster than commercial, but I assume that's because there are no stabilizers. Anyhow, even eating melted homemade vanilla ice cream is better than anything else. But now I have this big bowl of ice cream and I really don't want that on my hips! (Also, I want to make more more more now that I know how, so I need to free up space.) So, Seattle peeps, if you want to try some, come on by. Seriously. (Alexfandra, it's a daylong project, but you're welcome to come down and make some with me! We can go birding while we wait.)

Me, I'm going to the store to buy root beer later, and make myself a real homemade root beer float. Whee.

Comments

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Baking is scary?! ;) (Actually, I get all knotted up inside when I think of making pie crust.)

VIDDING is scary!

Go you! And enjoy your icecream.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Hah. I guess it's what you're familiar with, huh? But vidding makes a kind of sense to me that cooking does not. At least with vidding, you don't have temperature control and ingredient missing to worry about.

[ixchel55.livejournal.com]

Yay! for ice cream. Love the stuff! And I've made it before, too. Grew up eating homemade ice cream as a treat several times a year.

When you're talking store bought, my favorites are usually some form of chocolate. With homemade, it's fresh fruit. Do you include fruit with 'junk'? Perfectly OK if you do. To each their own. My favorites are peach and strawberry. But good old plain vanilla takes on a whole new dimension when it's fresh churned!

One of the best damn homemade ice creams I ever made was Apricot with Earl Grey Tea. Fantastic! I really need to pull out my ice cream freezer again (shoved away when I was diagnosed with diabetes) and see about re-vamping some recipes that are more carb friendly. Because the stuff from the store? Taste like crap!

Have fun!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Damn, apricot with Earl Grey sounds really, really good. I don't mind fruit -- and the book has a couple nice recipes that sound really good and I want to try with summer produce. Vanilla peach sounds... peachy! So I'm looking forward to trying those too.

[lapillus]

Congrats! It sounds lovely (and like a kind of ice cream that wouldn't completely do me in since I seem to do ok with dairy fats as long as the stablizers are nowhere in sight.)

I do agree that at least parts of cooking can be VERY daunting, especially if you are trying to learn it from books or even video. Much of what I learned, at least as far as technique goes, is from having someone show me and show me what I was doing wrong and how not to do THAT. Once you get the techniques down I find it's less scary to try related stuff and they you can start experimenting (much as it sounds like you're planning on doing with the ice cream) to see what makes it even better.

BTW, not all baking is that finicky. If you can handle the mix versions (or be taught to handle the mix versions) you can probably do ok from scratch, for instance. Also there are some really simple bread recipes out there that, given that you've managed to vid with VCRs, I positive you can handle; they take much less coordination.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

VIdding seems so normal and easy compared to the kitchen! My biggest problem is that I have a really hard time getting temps right and getting things timed right. It's really a big deal when you're spending $40 and up for a meal that you can have for a couple of days and then you wreck something, so all that money goes down the drain and you have nothing to eat!

[dine.livejournal.com]

mmmm, homemade ice cream! I remember making it when I was a kid - the old-fashioned way, with ice & salt and turning the crank until it began to solidify. we made vanilla a lot, all sorts of fruit flavours, and peppermint (using broken up sticks leftover from Xmas), but they're all good.

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

If you are prone to migraines eat that stuff slowly -- not that it triggers a migraine, but I suspect we are more susceptible to the dreaded ice cream headache -- which is intense but lasts about 30 seconds. For some reason homemade ice cream and things of that texture seem more likely to cause that.

Having said that, now I want an ice cream maker.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You know, I would not have believed this before, because I've never really gotten ice cream headaches, but you are right -- I did, for the first time. So I'm taking it more slowly now, even it gets all melty. ;-)

[torra.livejournal.com]

Ah, something I can help with! I actualy do make a pretty fine lavender ice cream, I've been told. And you know what? It's only one extra step to any basic vanailla recipe. That's it, one extra step to any recipe you like best...and it really is easy.

All you have to do is take whatever milk or cream you'd use for your recipe, and steap the lavender in it. Just put the milk/cream/whatever into a pot on the stove, apply heat (low or high, dosn't matter) and add the lavender. Let it cook together until the milk is hot (dosn't matter much if the milk gets too hot, or even scalds a little, just don't let it compleaty boil away ::G::) then strain out the lavender over a bowl or glass, and yer done. If yer using a non-cooked recipe, let the milk cool before you mix it all together, if it's a cook recipe, use as soon as you want.

And that's it. One extra step and you have lavender ice cream. Technicaly you don't even have to strain out the lavender after the milk is hot, but I'd sugest it, the lavender buds can be kinda bitter when eatten stright.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's good to know -- the lavender in the back yard is starting to bloom now (it almost seems like the buds have been hanging there, refusing to open, just to taunt me). I confess the scalding milk thing flummoxes me -- I think I know what scalding is in essence, because I've done it accidentally, but it's so odd to think you're supposed to do that for something. I'd heard that lavender buds weren't particularly scrummy to eat, so I will definitely strain them.

[mystic-savage.livejournal.com]

Home made ice cream? Home made ice cream?!?

I want to come!!! I'm not in town this weekend, but next....

email me your phone number. I'm still vlore at duwamish dot net.