You are planning your first summer party of the season, and you want to make it exciting with games and fun things to do by the pool. And the food must be interesting with exotic little sandwiches that the guests can munch on at their leisure. And of course you will have the chip and veggie dips. Then comes the dessert, it must be extraordinary.
The perfect thing to make your guests want to line up at the dessert table is to have an ice cream maker churning out delicious ice cream in a favorite flavor. You may even have two ice cream makers, one making ice cream and another making sorbets or frozen cocktails.
The ice cream maker of today has become sophisticated with sleek stainless steel models that are so versatile that they can do much more than freeze ice cream. You may have a large compressor model that makes consecutive batches of ice cream and will allow you to create sorbets, gelato or frozen drinks. Ice cream makers are also manufactured with timers that allow you to create any number of frozen drinks or frozen desserts.
The automatic ice cream maker available today will allow you to make frozen desserts right on your kitchen counter, with a minimum of clean up needed. No ice or salt is needed and there is no draining of melted ice. You may choose to purchase a model that makes one quart of ice cream, one and one-half or two quarts. Some models have openings that allow you to add fruit or other ingredients during the churning process.
It would be ideal to have a larger model that will make enough ice cream for a crowd and then to have a smaller model for making frozen beverages. Perfect for a party! The smaller unit could be used between parties for your private family parties by the pool.
This recipe has been a hit every time I’ve made it. You may want to double the recipe for a crowd.
Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 (250ml) pint milk
1/2 pint (250ml) double/heavy cream
3oz (75g) caster sugar
5oz (125g) plain chocolate (grated)
1 teaspoon peppermint essence
Optional: two or three drops of green food coloring
Place the milk and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently, dissolving the sugar. Place the milk to one side to cool and when cold, stir in the cream and peppermint essence (and the green food coloring if you want to use it).