It's just barely spring, but already our thoughts are turning to ice cream. This reader too - does anyone have any advice for Jessica?
Whenever I make ice custard or cream (with or without eggs) the dessert turns out icy instead of creamy, no matter the recipe. I have an ice cream maker that uses a bowl one puts in the freezer and try to use full fat dairy products. Any tips?
Jessica, without seeing the recipe itself it's hard to say, but we do know that recipes higher in egg yolks and fat usually turn out creamier. If you're using 4 or 5 egg yolks in a 1 1/2 quart recipe, for instance, along with half milk and half cream, it would be hard for that ice cream to be icy instead of creamy.
This ice cream food science page suggests leaving the mix to chill in the fridge overnight before putting in the ice cream maker. We try to do this and get the mix thoroughly chilled.
Our other thought is that perhaps you should experiment with the mixing time. Perhaps you are freezing the ice cream for too short a period in the ice cream maker - leaving it under-processed when you put it in the freezer, where it will develop more ice shards.
That is just a guess, though, since it seems like your question shows that you are already addressing our first response - more fat! Fattier ice cream is in general much easier to get smooth and creamy than lowfat homemade ice cream. More suggestions for Jessica on creamy homemade ice cream?
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Jessica-how much sugar is in your recipe? Not enough & you get an icy product. Too much & it never freezes.
Does this recipe call for bringing your mixture to a low boil before chilling?
If your fats are brought up to a high enough temperature they meld better with the other ingredients leaving you with something silky instead of icy.
I would try transferring the ice cream to a different container before freezing it. My ice cream maker's bowl tends to make the custard icy around the edges, so I always put the churned ice cream into a tupperware container. It's a Cuisinart like the one in the picture, if that's the kind you have too.
The Good Eats ice cream episode has god advice about why homemade ice cream is often icy. The main thing is to thoroughly chill the mixture before it goes in the ice cream maker. If you put it in warm or only slightly chilled, the ice crystals are much larger in the finished ice cream, and this makes it more icy in texture.
I agree with the more egg yolks the creamier ice cream bit. I followed a vanilla bean recipe that had 6 egg yolks. It turned out fabulous! Before that, all my other attempts created rock hard ice creams.
Here's the recipe http://www.chow.com/recipes/11117
nothing but full fat, ever. even when I tried to sub 1/2 cup 2% milk for whole milk (didn't quite have enough, was trying to avert a store run), it turned the whole mixture icy.
Uh, I'm surprised that Cuisinart's art director allowed a metal ice cream scoop to be photographed in that mixing bowl. it's made with nonstick material and metal shouldn't touch it.
These are great tips - thank you! I've tried making ice cream a dozen times over the years and ALWAYS get an icy, yucky product. I've also had the fat rise to the top during freezing which was gave me icy ice cream with a layer of crystalized butter on top... Not good eats.
I'll dust off my ice cream maker and try again. Thanks Kitchn readers!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have to run some experiments but to clarify, last time I used the Minimalist's Cornstarch Ice Cream.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/dining/011mrex.html?scp=1&sq=cornstarch ice cream&st=nyt
I added cherries and bittersweet chocolate at the end. I don't think toppings would make a difference in iciness.
Is it possible I didn't cook the cornstarch long enough? Can one overcook cornstarch?
This has happened with egg yolk recipes as well though.
-Jessica (Juice!)
Last weekend I made ice-cream using pressed cottage cheese (this product, I don't know if you can get it in the US http://www.westerncreamery.com/en/products.html), sour cream and cream, based on the cheesecake ice-cream recipe in David Lebovitz I have a similar machine and it turned out well.
The other recipe I find that turns out well with this type of machine is 600g of fruit, 1 cup of heavy cream and 2/3 cup of sugar, blended together like a smoothy.
Huh - the cornstarch one looks a little weak to me. I only have one ice cream recipe that I use cornstarch in, and it also includes egg yolks, evaporated milk, AND sweetened condensed milk.
I would probably fatten it up. Hey, no one said ice cream was an everyday food - check out the yogurt threads for that. ;-)
does anyone have suggestions for a decent, affordable ice cream maker?
I remember reading a review of ice cream makers a few years back and the winner was Donvier, which you can get on ebay.
I'm using a recipe which involves a custard base made with 300g milk, 300g cream, 300g sugar and 3 yolks, and vanilla. I freeze this custard several hours, preferably 24 hrs. then I blend it with frozen fruit in a Thermomix (I don´t have an Icecream maker), I freeze it again for a few hours and the results are amazing!!!
Jumping in the bandwagon a little too late, but if anyone else sees this, try adding a little cornflour (1-2 tbsp mixed with some of the milk/ice cream base into a slurry) and 1-2 tbsp light corn syrup (if you're not averse to the idea of it - or another invert sugar, like golden syrup) when cooking the custard.
The cornstarch absorbs the water content, and the corn syrup makes it scoopable and pliable.