Strawberry Ice Cream

Awhile ago I mentioned that I was teaming up with CSN Stores again to do another product review, and by awhile ago I mean two and half months ago. I knew exactly what appliance I wanted to review and I immediately ordered this ice cream maker.  The reason it has taken me so long to provide you with a review 0f the ice cream maker is due to my inability to successfully make ice cream.

When I first got this awesome ice cream maker I attempted to make a blueberry coconut vegan ice cream and unfortunately it turned out to be inedible and too sweet. This time I decided to go the more traditional route and follow a recipe in the Cuisinart recipe booklet that comes with the ice cream maker. Except in the end, a handful of mistakes led to a second batch of cruddy ice cream.

Strawberry Ice Cream

• *2 cups of fresh strawberries, hulled
• *1 cup of almond milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• *2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

* Indicates a deviation from the original recipe.

I pureed all the ingredients in the blender and then let the mixture chill. With instructions this simple, it’s hard to believe someone could screw this up, right? Well read on my friends, read on.

Mistake 1: I messed with the recipe. The original recipe called for whole milk and I used almond milk. We don’t drink cow’s milk and therefore I used what we had. I also increased the amount of strawberries by 1/2 cup so I increased all the other ingredients accordingly (or so I thought).

Here is the original recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Mistake 2: I let the mixture chill for about an hour when the recipe calls for 1-2 hours of chill time, or overnight.

Mistake 3: I put the mixture into the ice cream maker and then turned it on. Yeah, if I had read the instructions more carefully I would have noticed that I was supposed to turn the ice cream maker on first and then add the mixture. This rookie mistake led to the mixture instantly freezing to the sides of the frozen bowl.

Mistake 4: By messing with the recipe I ended up with a lot more mixture than the original recipe called for. My mixture was too large for the ice cream maker and at some point it turned into a strawberry cream volcano. This was not only a messy mistake but it also delayed the ice cream making.

With all these mistakes the mixture still managed to thicken and begin to resemble ice cream.

And after 45 minutes, we had ice cream … sort of. In the end we had very mediocre ice cream. First, the flavor was a bit off. The cream overpowers the strawberry and sugar. Guess this is what I get for trying to mess with a recipe. Second, the texture is not quite right. The ice cream is super icy and not creamy at all, oh the irony. I think this has to do with Mistakes 2-4.  I ended up having to stop the churning to clean up the overflow and I had to split the mixture into two batches so not to create another overflow. I think messing with the churning process screwed up the texture of the ice cream.

At least this ice cream is edible, and looks deceivingly delicious.

Ice cream maker: 2, Jamie: 0

I demand a rematch.

Jamie