Continue reading »]]> After the disastrous first attempt at ice cream, I felt confident I could make another run at this. The ice cream maker is so pretty. It calls to me.

I spent almost an hour researching recipes and reading other people’s successful recipes. There are quite a few Stevia recipes, but not too many that are milk free.

I bought liquid Stevia and another type of coconut milk which I now got out. I planned adaptations and organized myself. I even did what they do on the cooking shows; I filled little bowls with pre-measured and readied ingredients so that they could be dumped into the mix without pausing for something as mundane as measuring. Don’t get me wrong, my kitchen was still messy, but ready.

I was trying a little more gelatin in this batch, so I poured some of the coconut milk into a saucepan and sprinkled in the gelatin to let it soften. When I got back to it a few minutes later, it looked like the gelatin had bound to all the coconut milk solids, but left the water. Was that supposed to happen? It didn’t happen with yesterday’s batch and a different coconut milk! Never mind. I warmed the coconut milk to thoroughly dissolve the gelatin and took out my trusty food processor. Perhaps I can blend all the ingredients thoroughly back together?

The remaining coconut milk went into the food processor, along with the liquid vanilla Stevia, more vanilla, the premixed egg replacer and prepared arrowroot and water. It was easier to have all this ready in little bowls, though I missed the bowls during my preparation and had powder and drips all over my counters and floor. Where’s my sous chef?

I put the cover on the food processor, then poured in the gelatin/coconut milk mixture through the feeder tube and turned on the food processor. Shriek! Forgot to put the feeder cap on and the mixture went flying out of the spout! Fits of giggles led my DH to say “I’m afraid to ask!” from the dining room. I suddenly remember why, as a young mom, I kept the kids out of the kitchen when I cooked. Not so I wouldn’t be distracted, which I was, but so there’d be less to clean up after my messy disasters! In went the feeder cap, and the mixture was frothed well, poured into a container and refrigerated.

When I got back to the chilled ice cream mixture, it had separated in the container: milk solids, watery stuff and froth. Back into the food processor (with the lid and feeder cap in place) then directly into the ice cream machine for the proper 20 minutes.

It must have split again while churning, because my resultant ‘ice cream’ was icy and hard, worse than the first batch. And it was flavorless. I also think 20 minutes is much too long for this ice cream maker.

I’m not giving up, just pausing for a bit while I contemplate the world, universe and everything.

Continue reading »]]> I bought myself a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker so that I could join in the testing. I thought it would be great for the grandchildren. Their diets are so limited, homemade egg free, milk free, soy free, nut free ice cream will be quite the treat. Besides, I am the only one in the office on a milk free, low sugar diet, so I am particularly interested in the sugar free ice cream. I’ve been cooking for more than a few years, tweaking recipes and all. I know what I’m doing, right?

Prepared for the challenge, I washed the canister, the blade and the cover of my new ice cream maker. Dried the canister out thoroughly and made room for it in my freezer.

I haven’t made ice cream before, so I studied the manual, such as it is. Not much there; some recipes, some information about care of the machine, best way to freeze the canister. The only process instructions were to pour the ice cream mixture in after the machine was on and to turn it off at the desired thickness. Nothing to it.

I researched a few more recipes that used Stevia, extracted what I thought was best from the three and made a custard base for my ice cream. The recipe is quite different from what Jen was using. I was using coconut milk, and playing with arrowroot and gelatin. After all, I am a good baker, I can figure out how to approach this chemistry experiment, right? I put the mixture in the fridge to cool. I was tired by then, but I’d be ready to tackle the ice cream maker in the morning.

The next morning, I could hardly wait! I sampled the cooled ice cream mixture. It tasted good, but it was a little grainy. So I strained it and then I was ready to go. With the nicely frozen canister in place, I turned the ice cream maker on and slowly poured in my mixture. Everything was looking good. AND because I distract easily, I set the timer for 20 minutes. I expected it would take longer.

Less than 8 minutes later, I peeked through the clear cover to see how it was going: Ice cream balls had formed over the top of the blades and nothing was churning.

• First Mistake
  Based upon my years of experience, I stopped the machine, took out my trusty spatula, and scraped the balls back to the bottom of the canister. When I turned the machine back on the mixing blades kind of went sideways a little and made a loud knocking sound, like the mixer blades do when they’re not settled in right.
• Second Mistake
  I stopped the machine again and tried to scrape the blades clear. Couldn’t. Ice cream was frozen to the sides of the canister and I couldn’t clear it. I knew I’d messed up this batch then so I put the balls of ice cream mixture into a container. It tasted good. DH liked it too. I thought, “Maybe it’s done already?” so I put it in the freezer.
• Third Mistake
  My next thought was “Maybe I can get another batch out of this frozen canister by cleaning it quickly and putting it back in the freezer?” I rinsed it out with warm water to get the ice cream off the sides. Then I went to dry it quickly with a towel. Next thing I knew, I was holding one end of the towel, with the canister dangling from it and wondering “What’s wrong with this picture? Oh – the towel has frozen to the canister!”

DH joined me in the kitchen and much hilarity ensued, like something out of Keystone Cops. I graciously gave in to the fact that I’d messed up thoroughly. Oh, my first batch of ice cream? A frozen solid block. Nice if you scraped it, like a vanilla ice, but not the creamy mix I had in mind.