There’s nothing better on a hot summer day than a scoop of ice cream – and if it’s homemade, that’s even better. Making homemade ice cream for your kids can be a fantastic way to make sure they get their nutritious snack, satisfy their sweet tooth, and even have some bonding time making it together. But if making homemade ice cream sounds intimidating and you haven’t ever done it before, here are some tips that will help you make the best ice cream your kids have ever had!
Get Good Ingredients
When making anything homemade, the advantage is that you exactly know what ingredients go into it and how healthy or unhealthy it is. The same goes for ice cream. Whether you’re making something indulgent, like a triple chocolate ice cream, or something light like a melon sorbet, you should get high-quality ingredients.
Remember, unless you have a medical reason to, ice cream is not a place to skimp out, so get the full-fat cream, the good quality chocolate, fresh or instant-frozen fruit, and everything else that is on the menu. Remember that these things aren’t automatically unhealthy just because they have calories – you don’t eat ice cream every day for every meal. The better your ingredients, the better the ice cream will taste. You will also not have access to flavor enhancers and stabilizers that are used in commercial production, so it’s another reason to get high-quality ingredients.
Master the Skills
Making ice cream is a bit more complicated than just chucking everything in a blender and freezing it. There is a bit of science and chemistry you need to know, some culinary skills and principles that you should master. The ice cream pros at https://www.dreamscoops.com/ emphasize the importance of learning how to work with different sugars because that is the most common issue people face when trying to make ice cream. All in all, practice makes perfect, so you’ll need to make quite a few batches before you master the art – and I’m sure your kids won’t mind the practice batches one bit. If you’re someone who usually enjoys the science of cooking, you’ll definitely enjoy mastering the science behind ice cream.
Get the Gear
Depending on the types of ice cream you want to make, you’ll need different equipment to do the job. When you just start out, you don’t need to invest in a big, expensive ice cream maker. If you’re making frosty, fruity sorbets, you’ll only need a blender or juicer, or just a sieve, wooden spoon, and some elbow grease.
If you want to make creamy ice creams with a custard base, you’ll need either a machine or you’ll need to put in quite a bit of time and muscle to stir it by hand over a bath of ice every hour or so for half a day. This is all to ensure the smooth texture that good ice cream has because otherwise, all you’d have is crystallized chunks of cream.
Play with Textures
Sure, silky smooth ice cream is a point of pride, but it’s not all that fun to eat. You want to play around with different flavors and textures. If you’re making a smooth, creamy vanilla ice cream, add in chunks of cookie dough or crumbled up cookies, or whole fruits and nuts. If you are making a pineapple sorbet, sprinkle it with almond slithers or even raspberry chunks. Think about your kids’ favorite snacks and see what flavors and textures make the snack, and try to replicate those.
Learn the Hacks
There are so many tricks and hacks to make the job easier, the ice cream tastier, and the eating less messy. If you’re making popsicles, push the base of the stick through a muffin liner and push it up, so it catches all the drips. If you are putting ice cream in a waffle cone, push a marshmallow at the bottom of the cone so that the ice cream doesn’t drip down the hole at the bottom of the cone.
Or, make your own cones! Make edible spoons or create a DIY ice cream decorating lineup where everyone can take a plain scoop and then decorate it with their favorite toppings. There really isn’t a limit.
Homemade ice cream is especially useful for parents whose kids need to be on a specific diet, like a low-sugar one, because they can still enjoy all the treats their siblings and friends enjoy, but with different ingredients to meet their needs. And even when summer passes, you can still create ice cream together as a fun activity and enjoy it as dessert after dinner. So, get out your apron, prepare the popsicle sticks, and start coming up with crazy combinations of your dreams.
