Sweet Treats Shop: Homemade Ice Cream... I mean, it is summer and all...

For those that know me, you know this family LOVES ice cream! It seems it is hard to find good ice cream though, without spending an arm and a leg. And while making ice cream is not terribly cheap, it is still less expensive than the fancy, hence better tasting, brands. And you will know exactly what is in it, cause you put it there!! I am a firm believer that ice cream should not have ingredients that you cannot pronounce! AND, you can make your own flavors and get your kids in on the action.

Now, if you do not have an ice cream maker, you should! They are amazing and your kids will think you are the best mum in the whole world! Seriously! I have a cuisinart, but in the past, my kids had a ball that made ice cream. No joke. We would put all the ingredients in it, after having frozen the ball, put in ice and salt around the enclosed ice cream capsule and then we would put it on the trampoline and they would bounce it around. After about 30 minutes of this craziness, voila! Ice cream! Anyway, the husband, who also loves ice cream, bought me an ice cream maker this year. I am in love with this contraption, so I thought I'd share my favorite recipe today.

I love coffee and chocolate, so I have come up with a coffee chocolate chip recipe. Here goes... (and if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still make the mix and put it in a glass bowl in your freezer and just go stir it every 20 minutes or so until it is the consistency you desire. I know this is long and tedious, hence the reason you should "invest" in an ice cream maker. And yes, it is an investment. They do go on sale a lot though, I got mine for $49. But trust me, it is totally worth it!!) Now, back to the recipe!

2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup milk
1/2 to 3/4 C. sugar
1/4 cup Espresso or very dark coffee (you can use more or less according to your taste)
1 1/2 - 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I tend to use more. I like vanilla.)
pinch or two of salt (this helps all the flavors to come out)
1 or 2 handfuls of chocolate chips (or not)

Okay, so I am not a recipe or pattern follower. I tend to always change them to my liking, so feel free to do the same with the "flavor ingredients".

First, pour the cream, milk, sugar and coffee in a bowl and use electric mixer to blend them until sugar dissolves.

The heat from the fresh brewed coffee helps it dissolve easier, but don't worry if there is still a little grainy mix on the bottom.

I then put in my vanilla and stir it by hand. At this point, I would take my ice cream bowl from the freezer, (oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, put the bowl in the freezer the night before so that it will be nice and frozen.)

Put it in the ice cream maker and pour all the ingredients in, saving the chocolate chips for later. I then turn on my machine and let it start blending.

This is when you start to know it is almost done...the kids are attacking it!

After about 15 minutes, it will be starting to freeze, at this point, I add my chocolate chips. I then let it run for about 10-15 minutes more, or until it is the consistency I like. I do not like mine to run long over this, as air gets in the ice cream and it becomes less dense. I like mine thick. ;)