Ice Creams

When the days start warming up, it's time to take out the ice cream maker and start making ice cream!

There are a number of different basic recipes, all of which can be flavored in infinite variety.

If you don't already have an ice cream maker, you'll need to purchase one to make most ice creams.

Today's home ice cream makers are very different from the old leaky ice-and-salt hand-crank machines. Instead, today's ice cream makers come with a removable anondized aluminum bowl that you freeze separately, then slip into the machine when it's time to make ice cream. A small electric motor cranks it for you. You can buy new ice cream makers that make 1.5 quarts in the $30-$50 range--an excellent investment if you love ice cream like we do. You may find them on eBay, too, for less.

I have one of the original Donvier ice cream makers that has a freezeable canister, as described above, but with a hand crank. I really prefer the hand-crank to the electric machines. It's really nothing to crank it for about 15 minutes (my husband and I take turns while watching tv) and you can control how much air you beat in by how fast you crank. There's no noise, and you can take it out in the backyard. And it will keep the ice cream cold for as long as the canister stays cold (I can't tell you how long that is because we always eat the ice cream immediately--it's so good!) Though the original Donvier is no longer being sold as such, you can purchase the same model now as the Cuisipro Donvier Ice Cream Maker

If you want the automatic type, take a look at these:

• Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker.
• DeLonghi IC8000 Ice Cream Maker
• Deni 5150 Automatic Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Maker
• Hamilton Beach 1.5 Quart Capacity Ice Cream Maker

I've found it well worth the small investement to be able to have any flavor ice cream I can dream up sweetened with any sweetener I choose. It doesn't take long to make ice cream and it's fun!