The Butcher, the Baker and the Ice Cream Maker -- Well...mostly the Ice Cream Maker

For Christmas I asked for an ice cream maker--to be specific, I asked for the ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  I did not believe I would actually receive this gift, mostly because of cost, and I did not.  However, I received an adequate amount of Christmas/birthday money to purchase it from Amazon on my own.  I came in the mail and, 3 days later, I had my first batch of ice cream!

My family has always loved and enjoyed eating ice cream, but it wasn't until my friend Claudia started sharing some of her ice cream making adventures that I realized I wanted to pursue this utterly delicious and cool (hee-hee) hobby.


Fortunately, my dear brother-in-law, Jason, sent me The Perfect Scoop: Ice Cream, Sorbets, Granitas and Sweet Accompaniments by David Lebovitz.  There are enough recipes in this book to last me a lifetime. And frankly, it is a beautiful book.

The first ice cream I tried was a basic, plain--but amazing--Philadelphia Style Vanilla ice cream.  It was so easy and was literally the best ice cream I have ever tasted.  I decided, however, that I wanted something more. So I next tackled the Salted Butter Caramel Sauce recipe from the "sauces" section of Lebovitz's book.  Though it came out more runny than I expected, I could not stop eating it...by the spoonful. I'm surprised there was any left to share with my ice cream friends (mostly Ben, my brother-in-law and my father).

I finished my second batch of ice cream moments ago: MALTED MILK ICE CREAM!!!! Once again, we are lucky that there were enough malted milk balls left when the time came to add the coarsely chopped bits to the ice cream. This ice cream was my first custard based attempt and I was 100% successful! The book warned me to "make sure to keep custard moving. If you don't, you'll end up with bits of scrambled eggs in your custard."  I must admit I was a bit nervous about getting bits of egg in my ice cream.  Never fear, future ice cream eaters at my house! You will not find eggs in your ice cream!

Up next: Orange Popsicle Ice Cream -- I'll keep you posted!

Perfect custard on an ice bath

The Ice Cream Maker in action!

Chocolate Malt Balls..I love these things!