Homemade Ice Cream

I'd like to admit something.

We have a lot of kitchen electronics. Probably more than any couple needs to have. But we also regularly use all of the kitchen electronics we have.

Conservative Hubby uses the toaster-egg sandwich maker every single morning without fail.

The coffee pot is very necessary each morning as well. Yes, we occasionally use the Toddy instead. And we could swap the coffee pot for a coffee press, which I've contemplated doing a number of times. But when you work at home and linger over a couple of cups of coffee throughout the morning, it's so nice to have it hot and ready.

The beautiful silver KitchenAid mixer, also on the counter, hasn't been used in a couple of weeks. But on average I've used it at least once (and often many more times than that) every week since it arrived on our doorstep.

We also have a blender, which I currently use every single morning for a post-workout smoothie.

And a food processor, which I've employed sporadically but plan to call into action more often now that it's pesto-making season.

There's the waffle maker, which admittedly we probably could do without. But it's one of those handy items worth keeping around for a lazy Sunday waffle-making spree.

And then there's one of our newest additions: our Cuisinart frozen yogurt and ice cream maker, a wedding gift from one of my brilliant, beautiful best friends and her musician-journalist honey.


Since we received this treasure, it has been sitting quietly in cupboard alongside the blender and food processor, waiting for its time to shine.

That time came last week, when I pulled it out and studied the instructions and made our first batch of homemade vanilla ice cream.

Goodness it was easy. Goodness it was good.

All you do is place the bowl of the ice cream maker in the freezer for at least 6 hours. It can stay in there as long as you like, and I've found the longer it stays in the freezer the better the ice cream turns out.

Once you're ready to make the ice cream, you blend heavy cream and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Then stir in whole milk and a bit of vanilla.


Then you place the bowl in the mixer, start it a-spinning, and pour the ingredients into the spout.


Let it do its thing for 25 minutes or so and, like magic, you have homemade ice cream.

No salt required. No cranking required.

Sometimes, modernity is a thing of beauty.


(Especially when accompanied by homemade hot fudge sauce.)


Butter thinks so too, even when this adorable face doesn't win him a single bite.