I’d been considering buying an ice cream maker for a long time. I’ve mentioned here before that I’m a big fan of Lottie+Doof, and the amazing ice cream recipes — like burnt orange custard, sweet corn ice cream, and stracciatella — that Tim has posted over there have had me excited about homemade ice cream for awhile.

But I really don’t love big kitchen implements that are only used for one thing. So that’s held me back for awhile. Until last week, when I was chatting with my friend Tom. Out of the blue, he asks, “Hey, do you want an ice cream maker?” I accepted, and two minutes later I was holding my very own Waring brand Ice Cream Parlor, circa 1979. Yep, that machine is 33 years young.

The very next day I gave it a good deep cleaning (it had been in storage for… years, probably), and mixed up some raspberry buttermilk ice cream.

The ice cream maker instructions said to use four trays of ice and regular table salt to freeze the ice cream, and I gave it my best shot.I chilled the mixture for a few hours before processing in the ice cream maker, but even after about 40 minutes of processing, it just was not coming together. The consistency was exactly the same after “freezing” as it had been before. I was disappointed, but poured the creamy mixture into a glass container and put it in the freezer for a few hours.

I brought the freezer ice cream to a little dinner party with my family that night, and everyone really liked it (or claimed to, anyway). It was definitely not creamy — there were lots of little ice crystals throughout — and I didn’t love the texture, but the flavor was great.

Two days later, I tried again. This time, we bought a 10lb. bag of ice and a 4lb. box of rock salt, specifically designed for chilling/freezing — not for food use (keep in mind that the ice+salt never touch the ice cream itself, just the outside of the cream can). I used almost half the ice and about 1/4 of the salt, and tried making some sherbet. It came together beautifully after just 15 minutes. I was so happy.

Sherbet

3 cups milk
2 cups juice
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt

Mix everything together and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Couldn’t be simpler!

The ice cream was still a little too soft and melty, even after a few hours in the freezer, and the texture wasn’t very creamy, so next time I might try using even more ice and less salt (salt makes it freeze faster, which also contributes to a grittier texture). That said, the flavor was incredible. Seriously. So good.

But since we had all the ice and salt already in the machine, I made two batches of sherbet — one with mango lemonade, and one with cherry lemonade + a cup buttermilk in place of one cup of milk + vanilla. Both were so delicious.

We ate them together in a little bowl of pastel goodness.

Anyone have ice cream making tips? Good recipes to try? Let me know!

I’m so excited for all the summery possibilities.