We all scream for...
Jul. 8th, 2008 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynice 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.
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.
