Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Merry Christmas to me!

This was my Christmas present to myself this year!!  Doesn't everyone deserve to give themselves at least ONE Christmas present.  I have been wanting this for a very long time and FINALLY Amazon.com had them on sale for the ridiculously low price of $59.95 (85% off original price!!).  How could I say NO to this!!  So, with credit card in hand, Santa and I bought this beautiful little machine.  For those of you who are interested, it is still on sale for $63.95!!!  Just tell your husband that Santa told you to buy it!  And it makes WONDERFUL ice cream.

For its "maiden" voyage, I made the most fantastic French Vanilla ice cream.  The recipe is from the Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book.  And it is so easy to make!!  Here are the cast of characters . . .

Milk, heavy whipping cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla - easy enough and you probably have most of that in your kitchen or refrigerator (except the whipping cream).

Here is the recipe:

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.  Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, for about 1 to 2 minutes.

2.  Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, until the sugar is completely blended into the eggs.
3.  Pour in the cream, milk and vanilla into the egg/sugar mixture and whisk to blend.

4.  Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

If you are using the Cuisinart shown above, you will start the machine first and slow add the mixture.  It will take about 25 minutes for it to make the best darn good ice cream you have ever tasted!!

This makes about 1 quart of ice cream.  Trust me, you might want to double this recipe because the ice cream doesn't last very long!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Holiday Baking

I just realized I didn't make any Christmas cookies this year! How strange is that!! No fever, no cough, and not deathly ill. This was just an usual Christmas for our family - we were not all together this year for the first time in 18 year. I did bake my "famous" lemon cakes, but no Christmas cookies. I promise more baking in the next couple of days.