I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

I don't know anyone who doesn't like ice cream. Even in the winter when it's cold outside, people eat ice cream. There is lots of good commercial ice cream out there - Breyer's, Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone. They're all good and have some wacky flavors (Cold Stone's Cake Batter, for instance) that I would never make at home, because they are a little too niche. Don't get me wrong, I really like Cold Stone's Cake Batter, but mostly with other stuff mixed in. But the basics and some not so basic flavors can be found in my freezer year round.

I've tried lots of recipes from lots of sources. Books, magazines and websites. There are lots of good ones. They fall into two categories - custard-style (with eggs) and Philadelphia-style (without eggs). I like the custard-style, because it won't turn icy when you churn it. You do have to be careful that you don't scramble the eggs, but with a bit of practice you'll get the hang of it. And you can always put the base through a strainer if you have a little trouble tempering the eggs.

I found an ice cream base that I really like on a chef's blog called From the Back Kitchen. This is a bourbon ice cream recipe that I started tweaking when I wanted bourbon ice cream for Thanksgiving. So most of the credit goes to chef David Blane.

And the last thing you need is an ice cream maker. I have a Cuisinart ICE-20 1.5qt ice cream maker that is great. I bought a second bowl, so I can make two batches at a time. But I have recently seen a combo pack at William Sonoma that has an extra freezer bowl included for free. Check it out if you're in the market.

Each recipe will go in a separate post so they can be linked to separately.