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DeskTop Ice Cream Maker.

I’m a nut for ice cream. I’d weigh 600 lbs if I let myself go. Unfortunately I’m a diabetic. Life was grim for diabetic ice cream-a-haulics until Splenda came along. The next best thing since sliced bread. Low carb bread, of course.

Homemade ice cream was such a hassle. Either go with the salt and ice mess or use one of those little gadgets where you have to freeze some magic chemical in the freezer before use. There’s not really enough “cold” in that magic chemical so one ends up with mush.

There’s another option but one that has until now been prohibitively expensive. The desktop refrigerated ice cream maker. This type of unit contains a full refrigeration system and requires neither ice nor salt.

Then I found this refurbed Cuisinart unit [1] on Amazon. $149. Right in my price range. I limbered up the old debit card and shortly one was on the way.

This thing makes just over a quart at a time, just right for one or two people. Freezing time with cold ingredients is 40-50 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature. Just pour in the ingredients, insert the stirrer, put on the motor head, set the timer and wait. Ummmm.

Here are a couple of my recipes for ice cream for this thing:

Vanilla ice cream

1.5 cup     Heavy Whole Whipping Cream
1.5 cup     Whole Milk
1 cup         Splenda powder
2 TBSP     Vanilla Extract
1 Raw         Egg – optional

Mix all the ingredients and beat rapidly so as to entrain air to increase the volume at least 30 percent. This is very important. It’s called “overrun” in the industry and is what makes ice cream light and creamy. Immediately after whipping, put the mix in the freezer and start it up.

Coffee Ice Cream

OK, I have to admit it. I’m a sucker for coffee ice cream. I can make myself sick on the stuff. Coffee and Ice Cream were just meant for each other. There are two ways of making it.

Method one

Use the same recipe as above but use 2 cups of milk, heat it to almost a boil and make coffee with it in a French Press. Use about twice the coffee that you would to brew it with water. After it has brewed, cool the coffee/milk to at least room temperature by immersing the container in some ice water. About half a cup of milk will remain absorbed in the grounds so the recipe ends up the same.

Method two

Same recipe as above except heat the 1.5 cups of milk to maybe 130 deg and stir in 2-3 tablespoons of instant coffee. Folgers is the brand I use. Even though I think instant coffee tastes like panther piss, it makes pretty good ice cream. About 98% as good as with Method 1.

This is so good that your tongue will jump up and slap some sense into ya!

Cherry Ice Cream

Cherry is about the only fruit that I like in ice cream. I start out with stemless maraschino cherries. Put about a half cup of the cherries in a container and coarsly chop. I use a stick mixer (Bamix) and just pulse it a couple of times. Or one can use a few more cherries and put them in whole. Back off to about 3/4 cup Splenda to accomodate the extra sweetness of the cherries. Otherwise use the same recipe.

Ummm, I think I’m gonna have to make some now!