Homemade Ice Cream and a Review

I received the greatest little gadget in the mail Friday and I will tell you about that in a minute, but for the benefit of all the new people who are following my blog, I want to tell you a little about me and mine first.

I am Kelli and last year, on my 49th birthday, I decided to finally learn how to cook. I know how to can jam, jelly, and marmalade. In fact, my cover photo shows the very first fair ribbons I won at the fair a few years ago. Cooking has never been my strong point. Mom, who was a career woman back when it wasn’t popular, wasn’t a great cook – still isn’t. My Nana was but I just never learned. I’ve been learning from all the great bloggers I follow while challenging myself to post a recipe every single week at The Country Cook’s Weekend Potluck. Brandie and Team Potluck have all been so good to me! I wish I could repay them in some way. Throughout this blog I mention several people:

Mr. Picky-eater is my husband. We have been married seven years and enjoy a life in Oklahoma with our miniature Schnauzers Jack, who I purchased for MPE our first Christmas married and Max, a dog we rescued one 4th of July weekend four years ago when his former owners abandoned him at their home when it was foreclosed on.

Top Girl is my daughter. She is the oldest of our children and my only biological child. She excelled early in her profession hence the name Top Girl.

Lawyer Boy is my oldest step son and will be taking the Bar Exam this week.

Wonder Boy is my youngest step son and I called him that because while we love him very much, he is our dreamer, artist, and rather vague about his direction in life – so we “wonder” if he will ever get it together.

Rocket is my grandson. He was born to Top Girl and her husband 3 months ago. His feet have been going 90 to nothin’ since his feet and legs were formed so I assume he will be like a rocket when he finally learns to walk. He is the light of mine and Mr. Picky-eater’s life.

Mr. Picky-eater and I work in public service and are both proud to do so. He works in finance and I help administer a program that offers Older Americans an alternative to nursing home care if they meet certain medical and financial requirements. So – that’s us!

Now, on to the ice cream!

On Fridays, Good Morning America has a segment called Deals and Steals or something like that where you can get really good bargains. I’ve never ordered anything until a week ago Friday. They offered a ½ pint electric ice cream freezer that did not require rock salt. That sounded perfect! Mr. Picky-eater and I are generally on our own now so when want ice cream, we want a bowlful and then maybe not again for several weeks. Ice cream gets yucky in the freezer that long and we both grew up with homemade ice cream and crave it often. This ice cream freezer is made by Hamilton Beach and comes in three colors: Blue, Pink, and Green. I ordered one blue and one pink because my mother can make homemade ice cream like nobody’s business and really missed it but didn’t want the muss and fuss of a huge freezer. The freezers arrived in just a few days. I had already read the online reviews so I spent an evening going over the instruction booklet. The ice cream came out perfect for us and I recommend it highly to those who would like to make their own ice cream but don’t want to make a half-gallon or more. The following is exactly how I made it.

First, keep those bowls in the freezer all the time you can, if not, put them in 24 hours in advance. The instructions say at least 8 hours but I put one in for 24 and then put one in for 8 and the one for 8 didn’t do a good job. It was soupy.
These are the ingredients you will need:

1 ½ cups of heavy cream
1 Cups half-and-half
¾ Cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean with the beans scraped out and reserved, or 1 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg yolks

Add the first four ingredients to a pot and whisk until it all becomes very hot. Then take about ½ Cup of the hot liquid and whisk into the egg yolks until well blended then add all to pot and heat until it almost boils. It should look like this:

Then prepare to strain the custard through a strainer and into a bowl like this:

Place custard, covered into the fridge for at least 3 hours – more if possible.

When you decide you want the ice cream, put the bowl of custard in the freezer for about 10 minutes to get it as cold as possible then measure out 8 oz. into a measuring cup. The instructions say you can have up to 12 oz. in the bowl to mix, but with both 10 and 12 oz. it once again, came out soupy – stick with 8 oz. bowlfuls. Make sure the paddle and top are seated correctly on the bowl. There is no “snap” into place, just put it on till it fits correctly. Then plug it in and turn on the machine. In the beginning, the instructions say to LIGHTLY place your hand over top so the paddle picks up all the liquid. Set the timer for 15 minutes and watch. Then, in 15 minutes, it will look like this:

Put the ice cream in an air-tight bowl like this:

We left one bowl of ice cream in the freezer for 10 minutes and one for almost 24 hours and either way it came out nice and creamy! The Hamilton Beach ½ pint ice cream maker is an outstanding machine and I cannot wait to start experimenting with other kinds of ice cream. Mr. Picky-eater has already asked for banana fudge – no nuts. I told you he was picky!

**Please note: It is about 108 F outside and trying to take pictures of homemade ice cream in this heat makes it melts quick! ***