05 May 2008

Train of Thought

Today's rounds in the blog world led me to Deb's post about dulce de leche ice cream.

Which made me remember that I own an ice cream maker.

And then I looked out the window and was reminded that after a cold, rainy weekend, the weather has turned warm and sunny again.

And now I want ice cream, dulce de leche ice cream.

But the bowl on my ice cream maker needs to freeze.*

And I don't have cream. Or dulce de leche.

So I will put the bowl in the freezer tonight and add cream to my milk delivery order, so that by Wednesday, when the milk is delivered, everything will be in place. Well, except the dulce de leche part, but after I post this I will read about how to make my own.

And if I decide I can't wait until Wednesday, there's always Häagen-Dazs.

Aside: I don't use my ice cream maker much, mostly because I'm dismayed by how much cream is in ice cream. Seems elementary, no? But when I actually make it myself, it's SO DISTURBING. When I buy the ice cream already made, I can pretend all that cream is not really in there. Or I can buy the slow-churned kind that is quite good and not all that high in fat. My own attempts to make low(er)-fat ice cream in my machine have not gone well. It's good right out of the ice cream maker, but gets rock hard and icy when stored in the freezer.

*I have a chest freezer in the basement; why I don't keep the bowl in there is a mystery, and a habit that will change as of tonight. 

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi - This might interest you - since David literally wrote the book about ice cream!

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/04/salted_butter_c.html


Michelle

Anonymous said...

If the link does not work - just go to www.davidlebovitz.com - search ice cream :)

Anonymous said...

You get your milk delivered? By whom? Where does it get put? I'm v. intrigued!

I come from a family of dairy farmers, but alas, the last family farm has been sold.

Enjoy your ice cream!

Liz Jimenez said...

My favorite thing in the world to make is strawberry ice cream. A touch of lemon juice, and I like to puree all of the strawberries... oh, yum!

And last summer, when I was pregnant, I perfected my chocolate banana ice cream. Hooray for summer!

Arwen said...

Yummmm.... homemade ice cream.... yummm.... homemade banana ice cream...

My mom always made ice cream with skim milk. Usually it was all gone so we didn't have the problem... however, I liked it when she made too much because I was the only one patient (or is it persistent) enough to scrape the frozen block of ice and eat it... I'm not sure which way I prefer to eat it... hmmm.... I might have to call mom so I can decide... lol.

Keen said...

...and now I would very much like some dulce de leche ice cream, too. I'm off to read that post.

You have an ice cream maker? I wish I could come over. I would even bring the dulce de leche.

Arwen said...

What's funny is that everyone in my whole family were dairy farmers too (until my grandpa died and they sold up) and my mom can barely tolerate whole milk to drink but she only uses skim for ice cream.... weird.

Heather said...

I find that, while making my own ice cream points out the disturbing amounts of fat an sugar in that delectable concoction, I am also satisfied by a much smaller scoop of it. So I keep making mine with extra heavy whipping cream and real sugar and butter and eggs, and then just eat one or two scoops at a time.

I now I really want to make some of my mint chocolate chip. Or maybe French chocolate.

Sara said...

The Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream book is also fabulous-esp. the orange cream dream... And then Mark Bittman uses cornstarch to make ice cream, rather than eggs. So, while you still will have cream or at least whole milk, it's less rich than it would otherwise be (but fabulously creamy). I tried it here: http://familyslowfood.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

Anonymous said...

Deb makes everything so perfectly, and makes it seem easy. I almost never use my ice cream maker because 1) by the time I buy all the ingredients, it's usually cheaper to just buy Haagen Dazs, and 2) it often doesn't come out nearly as good as the store bought stuff. Have had major problems with iciness and just plain yuckyness. But you have inspired me to try again. Maybe this weekend. I'll probably be cursing you on Monday.

Anonymous said...

I tried the "leave the ice-cream maker bowl in the freezer" trick, thinking it was clever. But then the bowl was TOO cold and kept freezing the mixture to the sides sooo much that the stirring blades kept getting stuck. Ended up having to abandon the batch. I guess my machine instruction saying leave it to freeze for 2-24hrs have those limits for a reason. Oh and I'd expect it to be worse from a chest freezer as that is even colder than the fridge freezer I used. Just a heads up - don't want all your ice-cream-making anticipation ruined. YMMV.

Sarah said...

Wait- your milk gets delivered? Does it come in glass bottles? I am so jealous.

And have you tried Haagen-Dazs's creme brulee ice cream? Delicious!

One of my sister's exes once tried to ride his bike to the convenience store to pick up ice cream in a blizzard during which no cars were allowed on the road except for emergency vehicles. "Babe, why do you need ice cream so badly?!" she asked.
"Because I'm fat," he replied sadly.

Anonymous said...

Love the slow churned stuff! I feel less guilty and can eat twice as much, right?

Thought of you as the Kentucky derby events unfolded. Why? I know you're an enthusiastic Obama fan, and I myself have been recently appalled at the tactics that Hillary Clinton will use to win. I heard she was campaigning hard in Kentucky and urging folks in a folksy way to "put some money on the filly" for her. I found the filly's fate to be quite symbolic- coming in second and then, well, you know the rest... (I was not amused by the actual demise of the filly)

Go Obama!

mumof4 said...

Thank goodness I am reading this too late to go to the store and have no ice cream in the freezer!!!
Not sure you'll have the time but as I read you regularly I wanted to tag you. So go here and don't feel too obliged but maybe give it a go??
http://mumof4.vox.com/library/post/4-x-4-meme.html

Sara said...

Mmmm - homemade ice cream! It's only 9 in the morning and I'm craving now...

S said...

My husband is trying to perfect homemade ice cream. I find that the end product, after following the exact directions for basic vanilla ice cream yields 1) a yummy product 2)but, sadly leaves a greasy feel on the tongue and 3)it doesn't have that smooth creamy frozen consistency that you usually see in regular ice cream.

I'll have to do some research, I suppose! I also notice that 1) the standard frozen tub churns only one batch and has to be placed back in the freezer and 2) we have to wait a full day before its ready for another batch!

Maybe our freezer isn't as cold as it should be? Everything else in there seems to freeze. Oh well, sorry for the long comment!

Magpie said...

Oh man, you sound like me. I was obsessed with getting an ice cream maker, and I think I've used it twice. I do keep the bowl in the freezer though.

And maybe I'll just freeze the quart of vanilla yogurt I got by accident...