best soft ice cream maker
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I bought a Deni soft serve ice cream maker and followed directions from the package to make vanilla ice cream. The texture was decent although not icy enough and it came out way too creamy. I used 4oz egg sub, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tbs vanilla. The canister was in the freezer all night and I let it mix for about 20 minutes once I poured in the mixture.
I'm disappointed but am hoping that I get better at it over time :-(
Any suggestions?
Answer
Did you cook the cream mixture first?
When you make a traditional ice cream, you gently heat up a mixture of milk and cream with sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then you temper egg yolks and pour that all back into the mix. Then you heat it up slowly, stirring all the time, until it thickens. Remove from heat, strain, stir in vanilla, and chill until cold. (You can do it without chilling the custard, but it will take longer to churn and may not be quite as awesome a texture.) Then you pour that into your ice cream maker and churn. 20 minutes is not enough in some machines - try going another 5 or 10 or even 15 minutes. Check at intervals to see what is the optimum time.
By egg substitute, do you mean a vegetarian substitute like Ener-G Egg Replacer, or do you mean Egg Beaters, which is colored egg whites?
Either way, an egg substitute will not thicken like yolks, it will behave differently. But different egg substitutes have quite different properties. Try all yolks next time, or try a recipe specifically written to be thickened with something else.
By too creamy, do you mean too rich or too liquid? If it's too rich, you can make it much less fatty and more edible by replacing part of the cream with milk. And definitely use yolks, not replacer - that will improve the texture and flavor. And yolks have much, much less fat and cholesterol than the cream!
If it's too liquid, it's from the cooking (or not cooking) of the custard. I'm guessing that's where it went wrong anyway. It needs to be stirred almost constantly, and go until it is thickened. But don't let it boil or it will curdle! The texture will be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This means when you dip in a wooden spoon and then draw your finger along the back in a line, it doesn't fill back in right away. The line left by your finger stays clear of custard for a bit.
Good luck, and have fun!
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