Ice Creams — Tips for Successful Homemade Ice Cream

Tricks that guarantee the success of your homemade ice cream:

• Do not overfill the ice cream machine. It is enough to fill it 3/4 full. It may look empty to you, but that is the amount that gives the best results.
• No matter what the recipe instructions say, when you whisk the eggs for the ice cream base, never pour more than 3-4 tablespoons of hot cream over them before adding the eggs to all the cream. Work slowly so you don't get unpleasant lumps.
• You can use an empty yogurt tub to pour your ice cream into before letting it cool in the freezer. However, shallow, flat containers are best in this case, as they provide an even consistency in the ice cream.
• If you use alcohol in the recipe, do not exceed a dose of 1/4 of a cup of it. Otherwise you will make freezing the ice cream harder.
• To increase the creaminess of the ice cream, you can add egg yolks or avocado.
• Use more cream than milk.
• To keep the mixture creamy, the cream and egg whites must be well beaten to stiff peaks, and the yolks to a cream. The egg whites should be beaten last so they don't deflate while you prepare the rest of the products.
• While the ice cream is cooling, keep the machine away from stoves or other appliances that give off heat.
• To prevent ice crystals from forming on the ice cream, cover it with plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer.
• Homemade ice cream can last a week. That is the time when its aroma and consistency are best. After that it starts to lose its flavor qualities. So eat it quickly — you can always make more!
• Keep in mind that chocolate ice cream hardens more.
• If you use fruit in the ice cream, it must be very ripe. The better option is to use frozen fruit rather than under-ripe fresh fruit.
• When making ice cream (and any other desserts), add a pinch of salt.

Other important things when making homemade ice cream:

• To make the ice cream smoother, put the container in which you will freeze it in the freezer for 10-20 min. before pouring in the mixture (this also applies when using an ice cream machine).
• It is important that the mixture freezes as quickly as possible, so the ice crystals will be smaller.
• Watch the freezing of the ice cream carefully and eat it as soon as it reaches the perfect degree of frozenness. They say that is when the ice cream is tastiest, and this is one of the advantages of making it yourself.