Image courtesy of Amazon.com
Deep within the pages of the NYT Cookbook, in the introduction to the frozen dessert section, Amanda Hesser writes: “As someone who eats ice cream nearly every day, I’m an enthusiastic proponent of making it yourself” (p. 715). I came across these words of wisdom a few weeks ago, and they struck me for a few reasons. First, I’m pretty excited about the fact that my favorite food writer is as head over heals about ice cream as I am. I love baking, and I love desserts, but when push comes to shove, I’d take a bowl of ice cream over a homemade cookie, cake, brownie or pie any day of the week. It’s good to know that my love of frozen desserts isn’t a poor reflection of the quality of my palette. Or if it is, I’m in mighty good company. And second, the call to “making it yourself” rang loud and clear. If I love the stuff so much, it’s probably time I make a little more effort than it takes to scoop something out of a carton (though I do have some favorites that will be pretty hard to part with, so I suppose it’s a baby steps kind of thing).
With summertime here (at least according to the temperature), I’ve had ice cream on my mind even more than usual. And because nearly every good ice cream recipe I’ve found requires a handy dandy ice-cream maker to get the job done, Jared and I decided it was time to invest in our frozen-dessert-filled future. A trip to Williams-Sonoma later, and we’re now the proud owners of a Cuisinart ice-cream maker (in a good-lookin’ stainless steel to match its older brother, the food processor). Woo hoo! Let the ice cream summer commence!
In preparation of the main event, Jared and I started a list of the recipes we’re antsy to try.
• Orange Ice, from The Essential NYT Cookbook: because it’s simple and classic and perfect for a hot, hot day.
• Pineapple Sherbet, from The Essential NYT Cookbook: a good excuse to put my pineapple-cutting skills to work.
• Brown Sugar Ice Cream, from The Essential NYT Cookbook: I’m obsessed with the brown sugar shortbread from this cookbook, so brown sugar ice cream makes me all kinds of excited.
• Lemon Lotus Ice Cream, from The Essential NYT Cookbook: Lemon + ice cream = best plan ever.
• Strawberry Ice Cream, from The Essential NYT Cookbook: It’s my all-time favorite kind, so I’m especially pumped about this one.
• Honey Lavender Ice Cream, from Martha Stewart: a special request from Jared.
• The Best Lime Ice Cream, from Merrill at Food52: Is there anything more refreshing than the cold + lime combo?
• Peppermint Hot Fudge Sundae, from Sydney at Food52: Minty, minty goodness. Mmm…
So that’s the rundown. Now all that’s left is to get cooking (er, mixing? Freezing?). Here’s to a mountain of homemade ice cream in the not-so-distant future!
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? Any tips for doing it homemade? Do you have any favorite recipes to share? Can’t wait to hear it!
XO,
Katrina
That looks so cool (literally and figuratively)! We were just talking ourselves about how we need to buy an ice cream maker…can’t wait to see what you guys come up with 🙂
I’ve taken one spin with it so far, and I’m already hooked! Super fun and super easy!
That’s funny! We just got a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker this weekend! I’m making my first batch tonight- and I think I’m going to try the lime ice cream recipe you posted!! Which one did you try?
How funny! Great minds must think alike! 🙂 I made the strawberry ice cream last night and loved it, then we did the lime ice cream tonight and thought it was AMAZING! How did yours turn out? I might have to bring my machine to the farm so the ice cream madness can continue!
We loved the lime ice cream too! Tonight we’re going to try replacing the lime juice with orange juice and see how it goes! YAY to bringing your machine to the farm, if you have room- I think we’re already addicted!!
So I totally took your idea and used orange zest and orange juice in the recipe tonight instead of the lime. Wowie kazowie, it tastes like a Creamsicle! So, so good!