Ice Cream, Ice Cream & More Ice Cream

Eli has been bugging me to get an ice cream maker for EVER! I researched a little and came to the the conclusion that the simple Cuisinart machine was the best one for our culinary purpose.

I brought it home, cleaned it and immediately started experimenting. I started with a strawberry recipe from the August issue of Gourmet Magazine. I had tons of strawberry's. Usually, when I have too many strawberry's I freeze them for morning smoothies. Using pantry items for our first attempt at ice cream was super satisfying.

Ice cream has always seemed intimidating. Ice cream is my new found crush. I can't get enough of it and it is all I think about. And to be honest with you, I don't particularly love ice cream. It is not my go to dessert when I need something sweet. Yet, a little taste, straight from the ice cream maker is pretty darn goooood!

After the successful attempt at the strawberry ice cream, I decided to make the Vanilla Bean from the Cuisinart booklet. This was a good test for me as I really didn't get the full usage of the ice cream maker with the first go around. I really wanted to watch the machine do its magic. This recipe allowed me to full fill my fantasy. At first, this ice cream tasted a little too "eggy". However, once frozen it was good, not great. Need way more vanilla beans! I have researched a few other vanilla bean recipes. I am dying to make the vanilla bean from Sherry Yard, however the recipe calls for SEVEN, yes SEVEN vanilla beans. If I were to make this particular recipe, which I won't, I will have to invest approximately $77.00 in vanilla beans! I'd rather have a new pair of yoga pants for 77.00 bucks!

Next stop was Sherry Yard's coffee ice cream. Pure perfection. This was so amazingly good. It may have to become a staple in our freezer! Everyone in my house voted on what was their favorite. Coffee won by a landslide. Eli and Isaac are requesting Mint Chip. With all the cream and milk I have in the fridge their wish could come true. Be on the lookout for our next ice cream adventure!

Using the snickerdoodles that I had made the day before, the kids and their friends enjoyed homemade ice cream sandwiches!

Snickerdoodles

I was perusing through a few of my favorite blogs and I came across Tartelette's blog entry for snickerdoodle ice cream sandwiches.

What intrigued me about the cookie recipe is that once the dough is made and chilled it gets rolled similar to a sugar cookie. I had always made snickerdoodles as a drop cookie. I was curious as to how this one would play out. As I was the official snack mom for Isaac's basketball game on Saturday, the snickerdoodle seemed like a perfect snack for a group of 9 & 10 year old boys.

I had woken up early on Saturday morning and one of my first thoughts was to do them as a drop cookie. However, when it came down to it, I wanted to honor the recipe. I liked this cookie taste ( I think the cream of tartar helped in the flavor department), but I was somewhat disappointed with the outcome. I like my snickerdoodle (when fully baked) to have those cracks and crevices all over the top. These did not have that. I like to see where the cinnamon and sugar are hiding out. These weren't as chewy as I normally would have liked, but neither my kids, Isaac's teammates, his coach or the kids friends complained.

Guess I did something right! Plus - lots of our friends benefited from doubling the recipe.