DIY Ice cream

So summer's around the corner!e. And my craving for ice cream (or anything cold really) is genuine. And I just go crazy when I hear Mamang Sorbetero's bell ring.

Photo from: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dirty-Ice-Cream/54519711375

Our Mamang Sorbetero's ice cream can be sold in three different ways.

First, cone. You can get the regular cone or the wafer cone. The wafer cone is a little more expensive than the regular cone.

Photo from: http://coffeemakesmeweak.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/guilty-pleasure/

Second, cup.

Photo from: http://sketchingmycorner.blogspot.com/2010/02/ice-cream.html

And bun.

Photo from: http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2009/12/dirty-ice-cream-burger.html

All of them very delicious of course! The usual flavors are chocolate, cheese and strawberry. If you're lucky, they have mango, avocado (yum!) and even cookies 'n cream just for Php10-15. Gone are the days when you can get it for Php5. I feel old.

Weeks ago, I wanted my dirty ice cream fix. And I thought it was fated just when I heard one of the Mamang Sorbetero's rings. I called him out excited and all but he must be deaf because he just walked away. I wanted it so bad. I sat back in front of my computer and figured, if he's not giving me my fix, I'm making it myself!

I've searched the internet for easy, simple ice cream recipes and I came across two that were simple enough. One only had one ingredient, the other had two. Hard work (research) pays off.

So you may be asking how one can make ice cream out of one ingredient? This one is easy to guess if you've watch Rachel Ray in Food Network because they've featured this before. It's awesome. And so the secret ingredient is...

Photo from: http://karlasnaildesign19.blogspot.com/2011/03/bananas-in-pyjamas.html

If you've guessed bananas then you definitely got it right! Thanks to our vegetarian brothers and sisters of the world, this was invented. It's easy breezy also. All you got to do is look for OVERRIPE bananas, cut them up, freeze them for about two hours and put them in the food processor and puree away! Instant healthy ice cream! You can check out the detailed instructions here. 

It was a mishap when I first tried it though. I call it over-excitement. I didn't really read the instructions through and so, I placed the bananas with their skins still on overnight. The next day I couldn't peel the skin off. I had to slice the sides and boy was that hard. I was scared I'd hurt my fingers. It did okay in the food processor though. I use Moulinex's Food Processor. Does a fine job.

Another thing though was I didn't really wait for the bananas to go overripe because I'm way to excited so my wonderful sundae tasted really like bananas and they weren't sweet enough that my mom had to add Milo to it to make it taste better. But wait until next time. I'll get it right.

On to the second recipe! And this one I love, it only uses two ingredients; 2 cups heavy cream and 1 can of condensed milk. You just whip the cream until there are soft peaks and then fold condensed milk. You can check the other flavors you can make with this recipe at this site. They have really awesome flavors! But really it depends on your imagination.

What I did with mine was add two more things; bananas and melted chocolate. I had bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate bars left in my pantry that were just going to expire if I didn't use them. So for my anti-hoarding chocolate bars movement, I melted one bar, used half to make chocolate-coated cereal (makes it easy to eat healthy cardboard) and the rest I placed in my ice cream. I also added pureed bananas because as I mentioned earlier, I placed all the available bananas in my freezer. I had to find a better use for them.

So to add different flavors what you do is mix it with the condensed milk first before mixing it with the whipped cream. Then after 6 hours of painful waiting, there you have it your own ice cream!

Oh by the way, I didn't really use whipped cream for this one. Instead, I used chilled Nestle's all-purpose cream. It does the job, it's more economical. I just had my KitchenAid mixer do the whipping.

From: http://theprudentpatron.com/2011/11/hot-kohls-kitche-aid-mixer-only-149-99-get-45-in-kohls-cash.html

Best investment, EVER!

I'm not really a fan of chocolate in baking and ice cream. I like it as a bar and ready to chomp but as far as this ice cream recipe goes, my mom loved it. Commercial ice cream tends to be airy unlike homemade ice cream that's creamy and wonderful and dense and filling. My new found friend who tasted it commented that it was amazing because the ice cream I made did not melt so easily. I think I made a mistake because the instructions say to whip the cream until it reaches a soft peak. I whipped it until it was stiff. My bad. But hey, worked for the best! So that's the trick for a longer lasting compact ice cream!

If you are watching your weight, the minimum calories of vanilla ice cream (the base cream + condensed milk recipe just add vanilla essence) is 145 calories per half-cup serving, which you can burn if you clean up the house for 45 minutes while you wait for your ice cream to freeze.

So the next time you have an ice cream craving, satisfy it with your own creation. Go crazy with your own signature flavors. Have fun making it and eating it!