The Satisfaction of home made ice-cream

Sunday afternoon, bored, hot and wondering what cake to bake i came across something i've never ventured into before...ice-cream! I know a lot of people who regularly make their own ice-cream experimenting with different flavors and others who don't think it's worth the hassle. That's what i thought too, i was always a little intimidated by making my own and sometimes put off by all the complex looking recipes, but on this day not only was i craving ice-cream, i had found a great recipe for a caramel flavored one and i had all the ingredients to hand, the last bonus was there was a brand new unused ice-cream machine waiting in the freezer.

My first attempt didn't go entirely to plan even though i followed every word in the recipe, i ended up burning the caramel twice...in two separate pans, i tried to get as much caramel flavoring as possible into my single cream and milk mix, failing that the pans went in the sink and the caramel flavor ice-cream was abandoned, it would be simple vanilla instead! So i added a few drops to my cream and milk mix, let it all cool down then poured it into the ice-cream machine to churn for 30 minutes, then in the freezer until i was ready to eat it.
I have to say i was quite surprised by the outcome, it was light and creamy although not as sweet as i would have liked, having followed the caramel flavor recipe i didn't replace it with the necessary amount of sugar.

I think i will definitely be giving this a go again and this time experimenting with different flavors maybe even some fruit and yoghurt, once you get the hang of it it's quite easy! I've posted the original recipe i used below for the caramel flavored ice-cream , from Tessa Kiros' book 'Falling cloud berries'.


Caramel Ice-cream
4 egg yolks
150g caster sugar
500ml warm milk
250ml single(pouring) cream


1)Place the caster sugar in a saucepan on medium heat until it starts to turn to caramel, a dark golden colour and thick texture. Don't stir the caramel just swirl it around in the pan gently and watch carefully to prevent any burning.
2) Take the pan off the heat and slowly add the warm milk and single cream to the caramel, mix it all through. 
3) Whisk the egg yolks until pale and fluffy. Add a little of the milk mix to the yolks while continuing to whisk to stop the eggs from scrambling, slowly add the rest of the milk mix, whisking all the time.
4) Once all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in together leave to cool completely.
5) Set up your ice-cream machine following the manufacturer's instructions. I left mine to churn in the machine for 30 minutes and then poured it into another container ready for the freezer. I would take it out of the freezer 5-10 minutes before you want to eat it to allow it to soften up so you have a creamy flavorful texture.