Homemade Ice-cream

Last week we had an extra special dessert treat here at Eagle Falls Lodge: homemade vanilla ice-cream!

I’ve blogged about ice-cream before, so it stands to reason that we are big fans.  It can be tough out here in the wilderness.  We don’t really have good access to ice-cream, milk shakes, and other summertime treats that you folks get to enjoy back home.  However, we are problem solvers.  The group up here last week wasn’t discouraged either.  They came fully prepared to make their own.  Now that’s the spirit, people!

Denise and Linda – ice-cream magicians!

Travis and I have a hand-crank homemade ice-cream maker back in Illinois, but lucky for everyone involved these ladies had the foresight to bring a motorized ice-cream maker to the lodge.  MUUUUCHHHHHH easier.  Believe me, I’ve hand-cranked my fair share of this homemade creamy cool deliciousness over the years.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process of making homemade ice-cream the secret is in the salt.  Rock salt that is.  You will use a fair amount and it is layered with ice between the actual bucket and the ice-cream canister you can see above hooked in below the motor.  
You can buy “ice-cream salt” but rock salt used for melting snow and ice works just as well and you can certainly get more bang for your buck going this route.
Travis even helped to layer the ice and salt while that sweet little motor kept cranking along.
After about 20-30 minutes your ice-cream should be pretty firm.   This will vary depending on how much you make and whether you are living the life of luxury with a motorized ice-cream maker or if you are keeping it old-school with a hand-crank machine.  
We just draped a towel over the whole thing and left it in the shade to set up for an hour or so.  At dinner time we removed the canister, took out the paddle, and scooped away!
Delicious!
We enjoyed ours with cherry cobbler and peach cobbler.  
There may or may not have been a freezer raid a few hours after dinner.  It quickly became a free for all to get some of the leftover ice-cream.   This special dessert treat didn’t last long out at camp! 

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