Since this is the Ice Cream Issue, it’s only right that one of us try to make our own. And I was the lucky one who just happened to own an ice cream maker.
I’ve eaten enough of it to know what its supposed to taste like, so at least I had that going for me. But I had never used my ice cream maker, which is surprising considering how much I enjoy ice cream.
I had no idea what to put in it or how much, but luckily I had the manual. Don’t ask me why or how, but I had kept it.
I had thoughts of making some crazy combination, but being my first time, I played it safe. Didn’t want to suffer the same fate as Jon. Keep reading and you’ll see what I mean.
Though I decided it shouldn’t be too boring. Sure, I love vanilla just as much as the next person, but not when I’m making my first batch of ice cream.
So mint chocolate chip was the winning combination. It was only five ingredients: heavy cream, milk, sugar, mint extract and mini chocolate chips. Plus I had help from one of the cutest sous chefs in the world, my daughter Sophie. The freezer bowl was more than cold enough after spending the previous 24 hours, in the freezer.
So we mixed everything together in a bowl, minus the chocolate chips and added some green food coloring for effect. Sophie did the majority of the stirring and we were ready to fire up the ice cream maker. I wasn’t even 100 percent sure it worked.
The recipe said to put the mixture into the bowl and run the ice cream maker for 20 to 25 minutes.
Thankfully it worked. With about 10 minutes left, we added a good helping of mini chocolate chips. It took about 24 minutes of mixing to turn the liquid into something that resembled ice cream. Surprisingly, it actually tasted like it, too. Well, it obviously wasn’t as good as some I’ve had, but still quite tasty – in the little bit I actually got to eat. Let’s just say that Sophie was a big fan of our homemade frozen treat. My wife, Mary, liked it too.
While it was a success that will likely lead to more flavorful creations, I’ll still go out for my favorites. There’s a reason there are professional ice cream makers.
