You will need:
1 ice cream maker
2 cups whole milk
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
2 cups half-and-half
4 cups heavy cream
1 ½ tbsps vanilla extract
Approximately 5 pounds of ice
Ice cream salt or rock salt
Before you start mixing ingredients, get your ice cream maker ready by removing the canister from the maker and chilling it in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours. Next, in a large cooking pot, heat the milk over medium heat until tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pot. This is called “scalding.” Stir constantly, and be careful not to let the milk come to a boil. Once tiny bubbles form in the milk and it’s steaming, remove it from the heat. Mix in the sugar and the salt. Next, add the half-and-half, heavy cream, and vanilla. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or even overnight).
Once the mixture is completely chilled, follow the instructions on your ice cream maker to make your ice cream. A parent’s or caregiver’s help may be needed to place your ice cream canister in your maker and get the ice cream maker plugged in and started. If you have a motorized ice cream maker, you will need to add ice and rock salt to the ice cream maker in order for it to work. There are different kinds of home ice cream makers, so be sure to read all of the instructions on yours thoroughly. Makes 4 quarts of vanilla ice cream.
Once your basic chocolate and vanilla ice creams are made, you can separate the ice cream into smaller pint-sized or 1-quart quantities and add in any delicious ingredients you’d like to make some fun fairy-tale flavors. Be sure to mix in these ingredients when the ice cream is freshly churned and still soft. You can harden the mixed ice cream in the freezer afterward. Here are a few flavors you can try.
1 to 2 pints vanilla ice cream
1 (8-oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
¼ cup coconut macaroon cookies, chopped
1 (15-oz) can of tropical fruit salad
Unsweetened coconut milk (to taste)
¼ to ½ cup mini marshmallows (you can add in as many as you’d like)
1 to 2 pints vanilla ice cream
1 to 2 cups of store-bought or homemade tiramisu, cut into pieces
1 tsp coffee extract
1 to 2 tbsps Biscoff Cookie Butter (can be found in local grocery store in the peanut butter and jelly aisle)
1 to 2 pints vanilla ice cream
¼ to ½ cup chopped Twix candy bars
¼ cup Heath Bar bits
1 tbsp salted caramel ice cream topping
1 to 2 pints chocolate ice cream
¼ to ½ cup chopped Butterfingers
1 to 2 cups chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
¼ cup peanut butter chips
Suzanne Nelson has written several children’s books, including Cake Pop Crush, You’re Bacon Me Crazy, Macarons at Midnight, Hot Cocoa Hearts, Donut Go Breaking My Heart, and Serendipity’s Footsteps. She lives with her family in Ridgefield, Connecticut, where she can also be found experimenting with all kinds of cooking. Learn more about Suzanne at www.suzannenelson.com, or follow her on Twitter at @snelsonbooks or on Instagram at @suzannenelsonbooks.
Turn the page for a sneak peek at Suzanne Nelson’s novel Donut Go Breaking My Heart!
Here it comes. The lightning strike of inspiration. The perfect idea. Wait … for … it.
I stared down at the rows of golden rings, breathing deeply. Their scent was like a sweet, doughy hug in the cramped but cozy kitchen.
Anticipation had kept me warm on the short, snowy walk here from my apartment on Sixth Street in Manhattan’s East Village. I’d stayed up past midnight brainstorming without success, but I wasn’t worried. One whiff of the fresh-baked goodness from Doughlicious was always enough to set my brain humming.
Helping out at the donut shop was a win-win; it meant I got to spend extra time with my BFF, Kiri Seng, whose parents owned Doughlicious. And my own parents approved. “Work will do her good,” my dad had told my mom. “Talking to customers will force her out of her shell.”
Well, the work might not have fixed my shyness, since I spent most of the time hiding in the kitchen instead of out front dealing with customers. But I got my best set-design ideas while I kneaded dough or drizzled icing. Last year, while baking donuts, I realized I could rig up a treadmill to create a moving yellow brick road for our school’s production of The Wizard of Oz.
And now I needed another good idea. It would come. It had to come.
I lifted a still-warm donut from the tray and dipped it into a large bowl of caramel. Then I zigzagged melted bittersweet chocolate over the icing and added a sprinkling of sea salt for a finishing touch. I reached for the next donut, and the next after that. The rhythm of the motions had a hypnotic effect, and soon I was lost in thought, envisioning an empty stage, waiting for its perfect set.
A set design showing a fresh, distinctive take on Romeo and Juliet. That was what my application to New York University’s summer drama program had
