I’ve been meaning to buy an ice cream maker for a long time. I checked reviews online and asked friends and fellow food bloggers for recommendations, but there was no clear consensus—many people had mixed or negative opinions about some popular brands.
Ultimately, the choice was made for me when the team at Andrew James sent me one of their ice cream makers to try. The compact, lightweight model shown here is very affordable at about £27. It’s simple to use, easy to clean, and — most importantly — it produces excellent ice cream.
Making ice cream is far easier than I expected. Many recipes start with a custard base that you flavor and then churn, and there are endless variations for sorbets, frozen yogurts, and granitas. The machine includes a manual with basic recipes you can customize however you like.
Pros: affordable, easy to use and clean, quick, and the freezing bowl doesn’t take up much freezer space.
Cons: none worth noting unless you need to make very large quantities.
Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Shaved Chocolate
I first made this to serve with a mile-high apple pie and then remade it to photograph for this post. On my first attempt I used whole milk with cream; in this version I used cream with evaporated milk, which gives a richer, creamier result.
You can either fold the caramel into the ice cream after it’s partly frozen, or incorporate the milk into the caramel as I did here. The chocolate is optional, but my kids insisted—and they loved it.
Ingredients
Serves 6–8
200g (7 oz) caster sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) double cream, warmed
A couple of pinches of sea salt
1 tsp vanilla paste
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500ml (2 cups) evaporated milk (or whole milk)
4 large free-range egg yolks
6–8 tbsp finely grated chocolate (about 50% milk chocolate preferred)
Method
- Place the ice cream maker’s freezing bowl in the freezer, wrapped in a plastic bag, for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- In a deep, heavy saucepan combine two-thirds of the sugar with 1 tablespoon of water. Stir to combine, then bring to a boil.
- Once the sugar begins to melt, stop stirring and gently swirl the pan instead. When the mixture turns a golden-amber color, remove it from the heat. Carefully stir in the warmed cream—the mixture will bubble vigorously.
- Stir in the sea salt and vanilla. If the caramel isn’t perfectly smooth, you can strain it. Allow it to cool slightly.
- Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a large bowl until pale and combined.
- Pour the evaporated milk into the caramel and warm gently over low heat, stirring, until small bubbles form around the edges.
- Temper the yolks by adding the hot milk mixture to them very gradually while whisking continuously to prevent curdling.
- Return the mixture to the pan and cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Strain the custard into a bowl and cool completely. You can set the bowl in an ice bath or refrigerate it, covered, overnight.
- Assemble the ice cream maker: fit the motor unit into the lid and insert the paddle. Remove the freezing bowl from the freezer and place it in the outer housing.
- Turn the machine on and pour the cooled custard into the freezing bowl. Churn until the ice cream is mostly firm.
- Add the shaved chocolate and continue churning until the mixture reaches the desired texture, about a total of 30 minutes of churning.
- Transfer the ice cream to a container and freeze for at least 4 hours to set. It will have a lovely soft-serve consistency when first taken out.
- Serve with extra chocolate curls or a drizzle of salted caramel.
