Homemade ice cream improvisation?

[Duer 157099]

Was cleaning the garage and came across my old ice cream maker, which I cannot ever even recall having used. So, brought it inside, inventoried the pieces and made a mental note to get a recipe and the ingredients.

Finally yesterday I happened upon a recipe I wanted to try (from FoodTV site -- Emeril's Sour Cream Ice Cream). Got the needed ingredients.

Figured maybe I should test the unit before I start making anything.

Plugged it in. Nothing. Seems the motor must be burned out (it makes a little noise so I know it's getting power, but no movement).

So here's my question: is there a fairly reliable way to make ice cream without an ice cream maker? I've read ones where you put the ingredients in a big ziplock bag and toss it around, stuff like that, but do/will they really work?

I'm actually considering putting it into the machine and then just manually stirring it -- am I crazy? Will my arm fall off?

Other suggestions (short of going out and buying an ice cream maker, not gonna do it)?

[Duer 157099]

1. Now I remember where I saw it...

It was on the show "Ham on the Street" and here's what he did (from the website):

"Alternately, pour 1 cup of the cold base into a sandwich-sized plastic bag and seal with heavy-duty tape (to prevent the salty water from getting into the bag). Fill a 1-gallon plastic storage bag half full of ice and add about 1/2 cup rock or sea salt. Put the smaller bag into the larger bag and seal. Put this bag into a large garbage bag and cover it with more ice and salt. Close the bag and toss around for 15 minutes. Make sure you wipe off all the salty water on the bag containing the finished ice cream before you open it."

I just might be forced to try this.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

2. The very best ice cream is hand-cranked at the end.

Maybe you could do the way you described below then finish off with hand-cranking? :shrug:

Good luck & tell us how it turns out!

[grasswire]

3. ya know....

....you can buy a new electric ice cream maker for about thirty bucks.

[Duer 157099]

4. Hmmm, yeah, but that sort of defeats the purpose

I was only making ice cream because I had dug my old ice cream maker out of the garage. Can't justify buying one when I only use it once every 20 years or so.

Besides, I figured out a workaround, will see how it works

(I had actually considered the ziplock bag option, and was further considering putting it into the clothes dryer with the heat turned off, but fortunately found another solution :)

[politicat]

5. Take the lid to the hardware store.

Get a drill bit that fits in the lid where the motor nut would go.

Put this bit in an electric drill. (If you're real lazy, look for a snake bit which will allow you to use the drill even around corners.)

Use the drill in place of the motor.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Here are a couple of recipes I've found that I had seen on our

local PBS station:

TIN CAN ICE CREAM
1 cup whole milk
½ cup sugar
Egg substitute to equal 1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy cream

Place ingredients in 1 pound coffee can and cover with plastic lid. Place 1 lb. coffee can in a 3 pound coffee can. Pack crushed ice around smaller can and pour at least ¾ cup rock salt evenly over ice. Cover large can with plastic lid. Roll back and forth for 10 minutes on sturdy table or floor. Open outer can and remove small can. Stir ingredients with rubber spatula, scraping the inside walls of can. Drain water from large can. Return small can to inside of large can, re-pack with ice and salt. Roll can for 10 minutes. Check ice cream. If still soupy, drain and add more ice and salt, and continue process until ice cream is thick.

Impossibly Possible Dutch Oven Ice Cream
1 small package instant pudding (any flavor)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup whipping cream
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

Chill a 12-inch Dutch oven in a cooler or refrigerator. Mix pudding and milk. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, egg, vanilla and lemon juice. Add to pudding mixture.

Pour mixture into a dry and very cool Dutch oven. Add whipping cream and evaporated milk; stir. Put lid on Dutch oven. Place oven in a 16 inch bowl or bucket. Arrange crushed ice and rock salt around oven as you would in an ice cream freezer (alternating 1inch layers of ice and 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch layers of salt). Placing ice on lid (no deeper than the lip) will cool oven down faster.

Lift the lid and stir every 2 to 5 minutes. It will go slowly at first until the oven cools off. Add ice and salt to bowl as needed. Total freezing time is 30 to 45 minutes. The ice cream may be eaten soft, or if you prefer harder ice cream, you may replace the lid and cover it with ice and salt.

NOTE: Any ice cream recipe may be frozen with this method; however, a cooked ice cream may pick up a unique flavor from the cast iron of the oven. If a cooked recipe is used, make sure the oven is well cooled before placing it in the ice (a hot oven could crack or shatter if placed directly in the ice).

http://www.agfc.state.ar.us/education/phyllis/recipes/dutch_oven_ice_cream.htm
http://www.aetn.org/arkansasoutdoors/

[Duer 157099]

7. Oh! I like the coffee can idea

And since I have so many fans running anyway in this heat, I bet I could use a bike innertube wrapped around the can, attached to the fan drive shaft, and roll the can around (not that I'm actually going to try that anytime soon, but I bet it would work in a pinch).

Or, if I had a treadmill... roll the can around on that...

Or, use the drill idea posted above to spin the can...

Who needs modern appliances! :)

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I have never tried the coffee can ice cream, but I certainly want

to try it on my next camping trip. Just imagine peach cobbler, fresh from the Dutch oven, with homemade vanilla ice cream. That would certainly impress a few folks.

:hi:

[Gormy Cuss]

10. I want one of these

This doesn't address your issue but I'd love an excuse to spend thirty bucks on this toy - the ice cream ball.

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&categoryId=41066&sc1=Search&feat=sr

[Duer 157099]

11. Yeah, that's the toy that they tried on Ham on the Street

He compared that to the ziploc bag method. I think they both worked fine.

My ice cream ended up turning out really well, even though I didn't stir it very much. It was a sour cream recipe, so it was very much like a cheesecake ice cream (I got tired of paying for Cold Stone's) -- I mix in dried wild blueberries (from Costco) and some crushed graham crackers.

This time though, I made some pizzelles (because I found a nifty gadget called a pizzelle maker at the thrift store -- wasn't even sure what it was but figured it'd be fun to try) -- used a recipe from Food TV, one that only used egg whites (which I had leftover after I used the yolks in the ice cream). They were outstanding! Made ice cream sandwiches with them and of course put some dried blueberries in there too...

[Tab]

9. My son made ice cream recently

with his grandmother...

Put it in a ziplock and tossed it around and took turns.

Given what they went through, $20 for an ice cream maker sounds cheap, but it sounds like a fun way to learn it (like making your own butter)

[TygrBright]

12. I do something similar to ice cream whereby...

I combine heavy REGULAR (not ultra) pastuerized cream with baker's fine-milled sugar, vanilla, and sometimes a little yogurt, plus some kind of flavoring.

Flavoring might be espresso coffee reduced by half, lemon zest and a little juice, macerated very ripe fresh peaches or strawberries, etc.

Blend hell out of it in a blender.

Pour it into lightly-oiled ICE CUBE TRAY and put it in the freezer for a few hours.

Pop the little frozen cream nuggets out onto a big cookie, a slice of pound cake, or even a graham cracker. Or nothing, just eat as is.

You do have to eat them within a day or so or they form crystals, but that's never a problem for us.

Oh, man, it's good. I don't know what to call it, but it's good.

reminiscently,
Bright

[NMDemDist2]

14. you are very bad for my diet this week

:spank:

[TygrBright]

15. heheheheh.... But you have a whole new kitchen to unpack and...

..."break in," as it were. You need new recipes to try it out with, right?

After bed linens, kitchen is always the first thing I unpack. I got most of it unpacked in 2 days last November, but a few boxes were mostly "seldom used" stuff (good china, huge turkey roasting pan, jello molds, etc., ) so I left them for later. Naturally, when packing, a few key items just WOULDN'T fit in the "main" boxes and got tossed in the "seldom used" boxes, so I limped along for a couple of weeks without a large wire whisk, ice cube tray, baking sheets, small tupperwares, etc. It's amazing the variety of stuff you use on a day to day basis, even if you're an amateur and somewhat unwilling cook like moi.

wonderingly,
Bright

[NMDemDist2]

16. my two favorite knives are still missing in action

:cry:

I'm beside myself with out them

I have no idea where they are :banghead:

and i've already unpacked the "good" china and the roasting pan !!!

[TygrBright]

17. OUCH!! Knives are hard to do without!

Hope they turn up soon. A good knife is hard to find.

::clutches her Wusthof chef's knife and her Cuisinart parer protectively::

sympathetically,
Bright

[NMDemDist2]

18. I have plenty of knives

just not "my" knives :cry:

[Duer 157099]

13. I have to confess that today I finally broke down

and purchased that ultimate uni-tasker, a new ice cream maker. It was only $25, 4 quart Hamilton Beach model. ::sigh::

The heat is back and here to stay for at least another week, so the creative part of my brain is mostly non-functional, and I took the path of least resistence.

I have a batch of cheesecake ice cream ready to go, as soon as I get another burst of energy.

[DawgHouse]

19. No fair. You must share the recipe!

[Duer 157099]

20. OK, but you'll be sorry... this is dangerous!

(it's from FoodTV, Emeril for the ice cream, Giada for the pizzelles, for those who have a pizzelle maker thingy). What's nice about this combo is that one recipe uses the egg yolks, the other uses the whites (triple the pizzelle recipe). Perfect ice cream sandwiches.

I added some dried wild blueberries to the sandwich, and OMG. Pizzelles are all gone now, so next time I will mix the ice cream with some crushed graham crackers and the dried blueberries. In fact, I'm on my way to the kitchen now...

***************************

Sour Cream Ice Cream:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 egg yolks
2 cups sour cream

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.

Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup of the hot cream into the egg yolks. Whisking, gradually add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, to the hot cream. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream in 4 additions. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down against the surface to keep a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator and pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

**********

Pizzelles:

1/3 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

To make the pizzelles: Preheat the pizzelle iron to medium-high heat. Whisk the sugar, egg whites, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl to blend. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the flour and whisk just until blended.

Brush the pizzelle cooking surfaces with some of the remaining melted butter. Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter in the center of the pizzelle iron. Close the iron and cook until deep golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer the pizzelles to a cooling rack. Cool completely. Trim off any excess pizzelle along the edges. Store the pizzelles airtight at room temperature.

[DawgHouse]

21. Ack! I had only began reading the recipe when my arteries began cracking!

Still... I'm saving to my recipe file :) Thanks!