Welcome to our latest Tales of the Traveling Tote
where a group of Mackenzie-Childs lovers take you
along on our fantastic travels with our marvelous
bags. Before you begin reading, I just have
to thank Patti for starting this amazing group
of women and for Linda and Sarah for inviting
me to be a part. I have enjoyed this blogging
group so much!!! You have made my life
richer by this experience of being part of
a MacKenzie-Childs travel group.
Today Miss Madi K and I want to bring you along to
our second cooking class with our Lunch Bunch
group. We brought our aprons all of the way to
Cabo for this class. We were only missing one
couple, who are off living in Puerto Rico for a
few months.
Miss Madi K graciously brought ten of our
COOK2GETHER aprons which Diana and I
had made. What is really fun, is that we aren't
just cooking together as girlfriends, but we are
cooking together with our husbands too.
I decided to have a class on making ice cream.
My sister Jean had purchased a Whynter Ice Cream Maker
that uses a compressor. These run right around $300
so they are on the pricey side compared to other
ice cream makers, but for months before Christmas
of 2020 she kept sending me photos of the ice
cream she was making and raving about how
amazing it was. I decided to purchase one
and try it out and ended up getting one for each
of my five kids for Christmas that year. They all
said that was the best Christmas present they had
ever gotten (now that may have been an exaggeration,
because one of our Christmas presents to them was
the trip to Europe where we went to Paris, London
and Rome), but I was so thrilled they all loved it.
I chose to teach them a Peanut Butter Cup recipe
and a Nutella Recipe, using the basic
Ben and Jerry's recipe for the base.
The Whynter compressor ice cream maker
requires no preparation and you can make
batch after batch of perfect ice cream.
The quality of ingredients makes all of the difference.
I have purchased heavy cream from the grocery
store that has been more like milk consistency, and
that will affect your ice cream. We have found that
Costco's Heavy Cream makes the most luxurious
ice cream, so I highly recommend that.
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Base Recipe
2 large eggs, or equivalent of egg substitute
1 C. white sugar
1 C. milk
2 C. heavy cream
Place the sugar into a medium size bowl and
crack the two eggs into the bowl. Using a whisk,
whisk the two together until light yellow - this
only takes a little time. Now whisk in the milk and cream
and pour into your ice cream freezer bowl. Place
the beater into the bowl and place the top on
and press the power button and then the start
button. It is that easy. It generally takes around
40 minutes to freeze the batch, and it freezes to
about a soft serve consistency.
You can eat it now, but
I like my homemade ice cream more like a
commercial ice cream consistency so I place it
in these fabulous freezer containers shown in
the picture of Kirk ad I cleaning off the beater.
My sister Jean told me about these too. You will
want these placed in the freezer about the time
you begin freezing the batch of ice cream. I let
mine ripen about 4-6 hours or overnight, so if I
make the batch in the morning it is ready to
serve that evening.
Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Follow the Ben and Jerry's base and whisk
or blend in the blender 1/2 C. creamy peanut
butter before you add the milk and cream. We
found that Cream Skippy Natural made the best
flavored peanut butter base. Don't use crunchy
peanut butter as the peanuts will catch in the beater
and prevent it from turning.
While the ice cream is freezing, chop your peanut
butter cups - the thin ones are amazing. I usually
add about a cup of mix ins for this size of batch.
When they are chopped, place them in the freezer
too so that you aren't adding warm mix-ins to
your ice cream.
When the ice cream is frozen, place half of the
chopped peanut butter cups into your pre-cooled
container (you can use any pan or container you
want but maker sure it has been in the freezer
first too. I just love these because they are insulated
and really keep the batch nice over time without
causing crystals on top.
Working quickly, place half of the ice cream
in the container, swirl the mix ins into the
ice cream, then top with the remaining mix-ins
and then the remaining ice cream and swirl again.
This way the ice cream has the mix-ins evenly
placed throughout the batch.
Return to the freezer and let it ripen.
Variations
You can follow the same recipe for the above
but use smooth Cookie Butter or Nutella.
When I make the Nutella I add 1/8 C. Cocoa
Powder and if you have followed me for a
while you know I only use Extra Brute Cocoa
Powder, it will change your chocolate recipes
forever!
We plowed through a batch of Peanut Butter Cup and
a batch of Cookie Butter, so everyone requested ice cream
again. I had brought a package of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups -
the thin variety with me, and we went to three stores in Cabo
to find more - not a popular candy down there, so I got
online and made some homemade Peanut Butter cup,
spreading it thin on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and
froze it. When frozen I cut it. I have to say, it was superior
in flavor and texture to the commercial peanut butter cups.
The second day we made a batch of Nutella and I had
brought some Extra Brute Cocoa down with me.
Besides insisting we make more the next day,
the biggest compliment on the class was that
one of the men in the class ordered the
and the Extra Brute Cocoa Powder off of
Amazon that day and had them waiting at
home. They made their first batch that next
Sunday for their family dinner.
That Miss Madi K is so lucky that Mexico has
been so welcoming through all of Covid and
she has been there a lot. We feel blessed too!
Now for the fun part - the MC Giveaway
this month is being held by Emily. What a
perfect gift - this adorable luggage tag
will just make you want to travel! Please
visit her and comment to have a chance to win.
Follow all of our amazing adventurers to
see where they have taken their totes this
quarter.
Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths
Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch
Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box
Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader
Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women
And stop by again for another giveaway on June 1st.
Thanks for always stopping by.
