Ice Cream Dreams

Without a doubt, my greatest pandemic purchase has been my Cuisinart ICE-100 ice cream maker. I’ve always had a big sweet tooth, and I like baking (and baked goods), but I LOVE ice cream.

I actually started thinking about buying an ice cream maker well before I actually pulled the trigger. My friend Shelley’s mom has an ice cream maker with a compressor (aka it has the ability to freeze ice cream on its own, without having to freeze the bowl ahead of time like most at-home ice cream makers), which she loves. Compressor ice cream makers are bigger and more expensive than the bowl-freezing ones, but I’m not great at planning food ahead. Plus, at-home ice cream makers don’t make much ice cream at once (around 2 quarts at once), and my goal was to eventually have a DIY sundae party. Some women dream about vacations or weddings. I dream about sundae parties.

After a lot of lurking on Reddit’s r/icecreamery, finding an informative post on which ice cream maker to buy at Ice Cream Science, and encouragement from my boyfriend, I decided to make my ice cream dreams come true. And they have! I’ve basically spoiled my taste buds so much that I can’t be satisfied with normal ice cream ever again. You win some, you lose some…

Clockwise from top left:

• Cuisinart ICE-100 Ice Cream & Gelato Maker: If you are an ice cream fiend like me, definitely recommend a compressor machine instead of a freezer-bowl one. I’ve sacrificed very valuable counter space for this, no regrets!
• The Perfect Scoop by David Leibovitz: You can actually find some of the recipes online (like his UNBEATABLE coffee ice cream – by far my favorite ice cream ever), but his book has a really helpful section on ice cream making technique. I’ve seen it recommended as the ‘homemade ice cream Bible’ and it’s definitely worth having a physical copy.
• Birthday Balloon Sprinkles by Fancy Sprinkles: Full disclosure, I haven’t actually bought these. But they’re so cute that I think I need to! What’s ice cream without sprinkles?
• 1.5 Quart Ice Cream Tubs in Turquoise & Green by SveBake: I bought my ice cream maker at the beginning of summer before my birthday, and my sister and my best friend each surprised me with these ice cream tubs. I really like them more than regular plastic or glass containers since they’re insulated. I try to stick them in the freezer before churning so it’s cold and ready to go when my ice cream is done. Another tip: put wax paper on the exposed ice cream surfaces to prevent freezer burn (or just eat it quickly, that works too).
• Williams Sonoma Mini 6oz. Ice Cream Containers, Set of 4: For reference, 3 of these is a little bit less than 1 pint of ice cream. I like bringing these mini cups to my boyfriend’s house instead of leaving my big container (because I will forget to bring it home, and then I’m sad and ice-cream-less).
• Williams Sonoma Scoop & Spread Tool: I bought this on a whim but turns out it’s way better than a spatula for scooping ice cream out of the machine.

Now that I’ve got the ice cream method down (more or less), I just might have to buy a waffle cone maker…!