Photo by David Lebovitz
A few weeks ago, I decided to make homemade ice cream for a belated Father's Day celebration with my family. I carefully cooked up a huge batch of custard and tried not to think about all the damage I would inflict on my loved ones' arteries. The recipe I followed used ten (10!) egg yolks! I even sought out a good deal on precious vanilla beans at Costco and dragged Ben out to purchase them (I'm not allowed to go to Costco by myself lest I come home with ten lbs of exotic something or other that was such a good deal but doesn't fit in our humble abode).
I dutifully chilled the mixture the next day and prepared my parents ice cream maker I had stealthily snagged from their basement a few days before. I layered my rock salt and ice and plugged it in. I expected to hear the metallic whine of the motor...instead I only heard the ice collapsing as it melted. Major bummer.
Luckily, I had a solution. When I was younger, I was lucky to have a Barbie Ice Cream Shoppe play set. As if I didn't enjoy mixing up potions enough, now I had the ability to mix things up and EAT THEM, no oven required. My favorite thing to do with unsuspecting babysitters was make ice cream with all sorts of ingredients...sprinkles, food coloring, the works. The set had a freezer tub that froze the ice cream as you turned the paddle. I reasoned this same method could work on my parents defunct contraption. It took some patience, but after about half an hour, I had soft ice cream! I put it in the freezer to harden the rest of the way. It was amaaaaaazing. I let my parents keep the leftovers after our meal, but last week when I went to help paint, I took it out of the freezer and brought it home...very yummy.
I couldn't stop thinking about all of the flavors I wanted to try to make so early this week, I did some ebay browsing and bidding, and am now the proud owner of my very own ice cream maker.
PS: If you're interested in making ice cream, David Lebovitz has the most amazing recipes ever. See more here.
