Vanilla and Rocky Road Ice Cream

My triumphant return to the blog world. Well, triumphant may be a bit of an overstatement; I'm just hoping my fans (Hi Mom!) will forget that whole blogpostperday challenge from a couple months ago. I feel silly not posting this fall, I've made some awesome things lately and I just need to not be so lazy. Story of my life?

For Christmas, Garrett got me yet another gift that keeps on giving: Ice Cream Maker KitchenAid attachement!


The only real con to this attachment is that it's difficult to make ice cream on a whim; the bowl needs to be in the freezer for a minimum 15 hours before use. The guide recommends to keep the bowl in the freezer at all times, but with the size of our freezer, that isn't really an option; however I anticipate it living in there during the summer. The wait time to freeze the bowl isn't so bad, since its likely that the ice cream recipe requires the mix to chill for a few hours before adding it to the ice cream maker.

I thought I'd start with the basics....

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups half and half
• 8 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 4 teaspoons vanilla (I used my homemade bourbon vanilla, it was superb)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

How To:

1. In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat half and half until very hot but not boiling; stir often. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Place egg yoks and sugar in mixer bowl and use wire whisk, or beat slowly (Speed 2) with electric mixer until well blended and slightly thick. Slowly add half and half mixture until well blended.
   
3. Return this mixture to the saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles form around edges and mixture is steamy, stirring often; do not boil!
4. Transfer this mixture into a large bowl and stir in whipping cream, vanilla and salt. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.
   TIP: Once mixture is complete, put it into a pitcher to make it easier to pour into your KitchenAid.
   
5. Mix according to ice cream maker instructions and transfer to airtight container to freeze.

Once I whipped the mixture up in the freezer bowl (which gets SERIOUSLY cold), the result was a creamy soft serve ice cream. Once it was frozen overnight, it became harder and a little more like 'traditional' ice cream. This recipe, which was in the KitchenAid instruction manual, was really tasty but slightly too rich for me; it caused more than a few tummy aches over here. I'd like to try it again with whole milk instead of whipping cream. Most of the 'dairy' can be substituted in any ice cream recipe, although consistency will vary; especially with skim milk.

After the initial success of the vanilla recipe, and a lot of leftover whipping cream and half & half, I thought I should make some more...

Rocky Road Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups whipping cream
  
• 1 cup half and half
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows

How To:

1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, cook and stir condensed milk and cocoa until smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly. Stir in whipping cream, half and half and vanilla. Refrigerate until cold, ideally overnight.
   
   
2. Attach KitchenAid Ice Cream bowl to mixer or freeze the mixture using your ice cream maker's directions. Turn mixer on 'Stir' and mix for 15-20 minutes. With a few minutes left, stir in nuts and marshmallows.
   
   
3. Put ice cream into airtight, freezable container and freeze for 2 hours for optimal tastiness!

Both recipes have received rave reviews from, well, me. I knew when Garrett brought home the KitchenAid that I'd have lots of fun with the attachments, I didn't even think this one would be so amazing. While summer seems a million years away today, I can't wait to live off gelato and sorbet! Feel free to comment with some suggestions on what to do next!