Monday, June 22, 2009

The Great Ice Cream Maker Hunt

When Jim and I got married, one of our wedding presents was this great ice cream maker. You froze the canister, popped into the machine, and it spun and churned until the liquid ingredients turned into yummy ice cream. We make chocolate chip ice cream. Peppermint ice cream.

Fast forward 11.5 years and we are left with only the canister. I can't find the machine part anywhere. I probably tossed it into a goodwill box and now someone is stuck with the machine and no canister to freeze.

The boys and I decided we wanted to make ice cream. I mean, it's so much fun! You mix ingredients, sometimes cooking them and waiting for them to cool. You add them to a machine and voila! moments later you have ice cream!

Aaron made ice cream in school with a zip lock bag and a coffee can. How homey! It's something June Cleaver would do. Any good mother whips up fresh ice cream for her brood if she really loves them!

And so the hunt began...

I did have rules for the new ice cream machine. I don't want to mess with rock salt. So that means I need something a little less rudimentary than a coffee can.

I find a nice Rival ice cream maker that fulfills all my needs. I even had a coupon for $10 off! It's the perfect machine.

I make a special trip to the market down the road. I pick up heavy cream and half and half. I only need a cup of each, but they only have quarts in stock. Of course, I will be making a lot of ice cream so more is better! We can have fresh ice cream all week long!

The canister sat in the freezer all afternoon, as instructed. I mixed the ingredients before dinner so that I could start the machine the minute we sat down for dinner. That way dessert would be ready when we were! I had it perfectly planned!

I can hear the machine churning as we eat. I am feeling so smug! Fresh made ice cream! With real ingredients! No high fructose corn syrup and fillers for my brood! Only the freshest full-fat cream will do!

Churn...churn...

Dinner's over, the dishes are done, and the ice cream maker continues to churn. Churn...churn...

I go to the computer and answer email, feed and groom my PetSociety pet. Churn...churn...

The machine stops! I am so excited. Fresh ice cream...yadda yadda yadda. If I had an apron I would wear it proudly at that moment!

We don't have ice cream. We have something not quite liquid, not quite frozen. More the consistency of a really runny Frosty. The ice cream making machine hasn't stopped because the ice cream is ready...it stopped because the machine overheated.

Obviously Rival can be rivaled when it comes to ice cream makers!

Telling the boys that we are having shakes, I toss in some Heath pieces and we all drink our ice cream. It's thawing rapidly and it's really sweet milk with Heath pieces in it by the time we're done.

I pack up the machine and return it. But I still insist I will buy another, better machine! I know one exists because we used to own one.

I get a coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond. I research them on-line. I actually drive past the Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Then it hits me. Duh! [That's me slapping my forehead.] They make ice cream for you. They make it and sell it in cardboard containers, already frozen, in a million different flavors.

I can even get it made without high fructose corn syrup.

Frankly, this was one of my sillier ideas. I mean, if I really want to wear an apron, I'll wear it while dishing up store-made ice cream with my really cool ice cream scooper from Pampered Chef!

Happy Desserts!
susie

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