Small Appliances: Ice Cream Maker

Another one-trick pony, unless you count ice cream and sorbet as separate tricks. . .

I have a little electric Cuisinart with an insert that lives in the freezer. I can pull it out, pour in my ingredients when I'm finishing cooking dinner, and serve soft-serve ice cream for dessert--very impressive! Further, words cannot express how much the Composer loves soft-serve. So.

Divinely clever use of the ice cream maker: A day before making a birthday cake (all our birthdays are summer birthdays), I make a batch of ice cream up. I line my cake pan--the one I will be making the cake in--with Saran wrap or wax paper. When the ice cream has reached its soft serve state, I take it out and pack it in the cake pan. And freeze it. The next day I pop it out and put it between the cooled layers of my birthday cake--and it is a perfect fit, which is very nice if you're trying to make an ice cream cake. I cover everything with chocolate buttercream frosting, and freeze the whole ensemble. So tidy, and so good.

*Schoolhouse Chocolate Ice Cream*

In the blender, whizz together:
1 c. milk
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa

Gently stir in:
2 c. cream
1 t. vanilla

Freeze as usual in electric ice cream maker. Makes one chubby 9-inch round, or about six servings for after dinner. Depends on how much the Composer eats.