The Sewing Mom

I treated myself to this [tag]Cuisinart Frozen Ice Cream/Yogurt[/tag] maker!  We enjoy our ice cream in the evenings and when we lived in Illinois we had several ice cream venues to choose from, one within walking distance.  Since moving to Texas we have had difficulty finding ice cream that we enjoy other than what we buy from the grocery.    While running errands the other day I found this easy to use ice cream maker at Bed, Bath & Beyond and with my 20% off coupon in hand, I just had to buy it. This is such an easy little machine to operate.  The most difficult thing is remembering to put the “bowl” in the freezer the day before we want to make our ice cream.  The bowl itself has some sort of cooling liquid inside of it that freezes and then, when you pour your ingredients into it and turn it on, it acts to freeze the ice cream.  This recipes use common everyday ingredients, no rock salt or anything extra.   It will also make frozen drinks like smoothies.  It won’t crush ice, so it won’t make margaritas or anything, but there are others that it will make and comes with a recipe for strawberry daiquiris.The entire machine consists of a base which has an on/off switch, the freezer “bowl”, a mixing arm and the lid.  They do have to be washed by hand, but I find that if you rinse them in water right following use, they’re very easy to wash.   You mix your ingredients in a seperate bowl, turn the machine on and then pour your mixture into the unit at the top.  That’s it!  The unit needs to run for 25-30 minutes and then you have a finished product.   It makes up to 1 1/2 quarts.  I did find that I like to then pour the ice cream into a freezer safe dish with a lid and put it into the freezer for a few hours to make it thicker, but it tastes delicious and no preservatives!    The recipe book that it comes with even gives suggestions for reducing the fat content in the recipes (not that I’ve tried this yet, but I probably should!) How do you like your ice cream?