I recently acquired a KitchenAid ice cream accessory.
It's a white plastic insulated bowl that fits most KitchenAid home mixers. As of now, I have used it three times and I like it better each time that I use it.
My purpose in getting the ice cream maker was not to make a gourmet ice cream or the best ice cream ever but a simple, lactose-free ice cream that my housemate Carlos could enjoy. He is extremely lactose intolerant and he's never been able to eat ice cream without getting deathly ill.
My first two attempts were with an egg custard base that tasted great the first day but within 24 hours they had frozen rock solid and had a very icy texture. Not a total failure but definitely not what I was looking for. I wanted something that was creamy, scoopable, and without an icy texture.
For my third attempt I decided to follow @Darienne's method and use a cornstarch base. It was a complete success.
I now have my base recipe that I can add different flavors to. I will post the base recipe and since this is still a work in progress, I will also post my results with each flavor change as I go along.
2 1/2 Cups lactose free whole milk (divided)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cream cheese
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Cup fruit nectar (I used Blackberry nectar)
I used my microwave to make the base.
Make a cornstarch slurry with 1/2 cup of milk and the 2 teaspoons of cornstarch.
Microwave 2 cups of milk at 2 minute intervals stirring well between each interval until bubbles form at the edges.
Stir the cornstarch slurry into the hot milk and microwave 2 minutes more.
Stir several spoonfuls of hot milk into the cream cheese in a small bowl and stir well until soft. Add the cream cheese mixture to the hot milk, stirring well.
Stir 3/4 cup of sugar into the hot milk until completely dissolved.
Add the fruit nectar to the mixture and stir well.
Refrigerate the mixture until completely cold, preferably overnight.
When you are ready to freeze the mixture assemble everything as quickly as possible and turn the mixer on to slow. Pour the mixture carefully into the bowl and process for 5 minutes. Turn the mixture up to 2 and process until it doubles in volume. This should take about 10 minutes. It will be the consistency of a soft serve ice cream. For a more solid ice cream, scoop into containers and freeze for about 4 hours.
Note:
If your ice cream does not seem to be freezing within 20 minutes you may need to turn your freezer down to freeze the bowl more solidly.
My first, and probably my worst, mistake was thinking that the longer it churned the better it would be. The opposite is true. The quicker it can be made to smoother the texture will be.
My next project will be mango ice cream. I have two gorgeous mangoes just waiting to be made into ice cream.
