Sweet Tooth: Evolution

I can’t think the phrase “it’s inevitable” without getting Liz Phair stuck in my head. It’s inevitable, it’s a fact that we’re gonna get down to it… I suppose, given my historic appreciation for baking, given my Grandpa’s love of homemade ice cream, given my sweet tooth, it was inevitable that I would venture into trying my hand at making ice cream. Shoutout to my brother and sister-in-law for giving me an ice cream maker for Christmas, and for helping concoct the first batch!

My brother consumes a lot of food network content, and he internalizes all the tips and secrets. I call him Cooking Show Alex and while I appreciated his expertise, actually watching the episode regarding the Alton Brown recipe we used helped me make sense of all of it. I’m thinking, holy smokes, stirring hot cream into egg without scrambling the eggs, this seems like too many steps. Freeze this 12 hours, chill that 8 hours, freeze this another 4 hours, soooo complicated! BUT. Alton Brown does a good job of explaining that, yes, while this complicated custard base is a lot of work, this is what makes the difference between discount ice cream and premium ice cream. He showed that Ben and Jerry’s (or similar premium ice cream) is significantly more dense than cheap ice cream, and the density (and the custard base) is what makes it taste so much better.

Delicious, delicious science. We made chocolate ice cream and blended in Heath bars for a crunchy bonus. What can I say? It was premium indeed. While Grandpa’s hand-churned vanilla will always hold a place in my heart, this stuff was great!

I’m not sure how often I will reasonably make ice cream but I love having the option! Maybe I’ll have some ice cream parties come summer? Next on my radar is to experiment with making waffle cones! What’s something you’ve been thinking about DIYing? I gotta say, I was long intimidated by the idea of making ice cream but this was so great! I’m very glad I had assistance the first time though, it is a bit of a Process.