Making Creamy Ice Cream in a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker?

Question

I have made two batches so far (one custard based and one non-cooked base). Both have tasted fine but are not creamy. They have the rough consistency of frozen milk. In one recipe I used two cups of whole milk and two cups heavy cream; the second recipe one cup whole milk and two cups heavy cream. So, I don't think I am lacking in butterfat contetn. After running the machine the prescribed time - about 25 minutes I freeze the soft ice cream.

Any suggestions?

Could the mixture be freezing too quickly? Should I let the mixture go longer in the machine and freeze less in the freezer?

Answer 1

Actually it has ALL to do with butterfat. If your butterfat content was higher it wouldnt freeze like ice. You have water infiltrating your mixture at some point that is causing your ice cream to freeze like that. Go to a health foods market and get "un-homogenized" whole milk and heavy cream. It should work WAY better.

Answer 2

First, reduce your milk to 1 cup of milk to 2 cups of heavy cream. Also, you didn't say how many egg yolks you use. For these quantities of milk and cream I would use the yolks of 8 large eggs. You also didn't mention what you use for a sweetener. A lot of people use sugar syrup. Because sugar syrup is water-based, it's kind of like pouring water into your ice cream - it makes the ice cream hard. I use honey as a sweetener. You need less of it, and it helps the ice cream retain its creamy consistency.

Make sure your bowl is really cold before pouring your mixture in, and do not pour it all in at once. I put about half the above in my Gaggia machine at a time. And I don't time it. I churn the ice cream until it's at the desired consistency, then I transfer to plastic containers and put into the freezer.

As far as creamy goes, the creamiest ice cream I have ever made was with condensed sweetened milk. Basically, I'm crazy about key lime pie and wanted to make key lime ice cream. So I make my custard mixture but substitute 1/2 cup of milk with 1/2 cup of condensed sweetened milk, 1/4 cup of key lime juice and no extra sweetener. It is absolutely divine.

Answer 3

I have the same ice cream maker and have had similar results. I've found that even though the instructions recommend refrigerating the mixture before putting it in the ice cream maker, that putting it in at room temperature has better results. I think you are correct that it is freezing too quickly, so the warmer ingredients may help with this. Sometimes I can't get it to freeze any more solid than a soft-serve texture, but at least it is creamier.

Answer 4

that sounds soooo delicious.....