Cake Batter Ice Cream

Now that the weather is finally getting warmer I decided it was time to break out my ice cream maker. I knew that Lauren had been using her ice cream maker all through the winter so she had an arsenal of great recipes for me to choose from. I bookmarked several, but decided to give this cake batter ice cream a whirl first since Joe is a big fan of cake batter ice cream. Like Lauren I used Funfetti cake mix, but heeding her warning about the sprinkles dissolving I added more sprinkles to my ice cream at the very end, just to make it more colorful. This ice cream is SO delicious! And the ice cream came out perfect - creamy and rich and the perfect consistency. In fact, I think it's the best ice cream I've ever made! I highly recommend this!

Cake Batter Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup Funfetti cake mix

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

Stir in cake mix, making sure there are no lumps.

Pour mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and let mix until it has thickened (about 25-30 minutes).

Remove ice cream from freezer bowl and place into a separate container.

Place freezer bowl and the ice cream into the freezer to further harden.

Summer Send Off

September is here, but I thought I'd squeeze in one more summery treat before I switched over to pumpkin bread and apple crisps. Pineapple is by far my favorite fruit, so I was thrilled when I came across this recipe for Pineapple-Brown Sugar Frozen Yogurt on the Cooking Light website. I had made a few batches of delicious ice cream recently but was looking to try a recipe that wasn't so high in fat and calories and this one fit the bill. It was extremely easy to make, even though I didn't take into account the quantity of the recipe and ended up with sticky yogurt spilling out my ice cream maker. This recipe was worth the extra cleanup though. It's perfectly creamy and tangy and sweet and full of yummy pineapple flavor. Before you pull out your favorite fall recipes, I suggest you give summer one last hurrah with this frozen yogurt!

Pineapple-Brown Sugar Frozen Yogurt

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 (15 1/4-ounce) cans crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
4 cups vanilla low-fat yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine the sugar and pineapple in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and cook until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and cool slightly. Chill.
Combine pineapple mixture, yogurt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Spoon yogurt into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze 1 hour or until firm.

I Scream, You Scream

Hooray for ice cream! One of my favorite birthday gifts this year was this shiny red Cuisinart ice cream maker and Ben & Jerry's ice cream book. I couldn't wait to start whipping up frozen desserts. Having never made ice cream before, I was amazed at how easy it is. Mix together a few ingredients, pour into the ice cream maker, leave it to churn for 30 minutes and, voila, ice cream! My brother-in-law and I had a lot of fun making it :)


So far we've made two batches of ice cream (Oreo mint and heath bar crunch, both from the Ben & Jerry's book) and have learned a few things along the way.

1) Homemade ice cream is SO much better than store-bought. It tastes so fresh!

2) Be patient and let the ice cream freeze. My first batch, the Oreo mint, came together perfectly but I only froze it after churning for a few hours and it was soft - think the consistency of a Dairy Queen Blizzard - so I couldn't really scoop it like I wanted. But by the next morning it was the perfect ice cream consistency.

3) Freeze the bowl long enough! With batch number two, the heath bar, I put the ice cream maker bowl in the freezer in the morning before work, and about 12 hours later went to make my ice cream. The ice cream never really thickened in the machine and while it did firm up in the freezer it wound up kind of icy.

Regardless, both batches of ice cream were incredibly delicious! I can't wait to make more flavors!

Oreo Mint

2/3 cup coarsely chopped Oreo cookies

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy or whipping cream

1 cup milk

2 tsp peppermint extract

Place the cookies in a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. Add the peppermint extract and blend again. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. After the ice cream stiffens (and about 2 minutes before it is done) add the chopped cookies and continue freezing until ice cream is ready.

*I also added a few drops of food coloring, since I like my mint ice cream green!

Heath Bar Crunch

4 original Heath bars
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Using a sharp knife, cut the candy bars into 1/2-1 inch chunks. You should have about 1 cup. Place the chunks in a bowl, cover and freeze. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. Add the peppermint extract and blend again. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. After the ice cream stiffens (and about 2 minutes before it is done) add the candy and continue freezing until ice cream is ready.

*I also added a few tablespoons of peanut butter with the Heath bars - yum!