Product Review: Cuisinart Pure Indulgence Ice Cream Maker

I recently received a Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2 QT Ice Cream Maker to review from Cookware.com. Cuisinart advertises this machine as being able to make two quarts of ice cream, sorbet, or frozen yogurt, so I decided to give it a whirl on the frozen yogurt. I used a recipe for vanilla frozen yogurt from the manual that came with the machine, and I was impressed with how well it did the job. You'll notice from the picture that what you come up with is a lot of creamy frozen yogurt with some frozen shavings dumped on top. This is because the bowl freezes the ice cream through a coolant that is housed within the walls of the bowl. Thus, the metal walls are much colder than the middle. I recommend having your plastic or rubber spatula ready to go as soon as you stop the machine, because the quicker you scrape, the less you get those frozen shavings. That said, they mixed in well, and once I froze the yogurt for a couple of hours, it was a homogenous substance.

The benefits of this ice cream maker are its size and its ease of use. It's very simple and it does what it's supposed to. The 2 quart size is great because you can make enough for a party if you need to. You do have to store the bowl in the freezer, which means you need room for it, but you can use the base on your counter and it only takes 20-30 minutes to make dessert. The frozen yogurt I made was smooth and creamy, though I thought the recipe in the manual was a little bit too sweet. It also doesn't freeze well for the long term; if you're the only one eating you probably want to make ice cream instead. You can get your own ice cream maker at Cookware.com. I also noticed when I was browsing the site that they have a ton of decently priced bakeware, so you might want to check that out as well.

Disclaimer: Cookware.com provided an ice cream maker for review free of charge. Shortcut to Mushrooms reviews books and products as provided only when given complete freedom to write an honest review. No direction was provided in writing this post.

Red Wine Granita and a Confession

Dearest, darling fellow foodbloggers,

I have a confession to make. I'm jealous. I've been sitting here looking through all your beautiful posts, kicking myself for not commenting as always, bookmarking recipes... and all summer I've been reading about your trips to far off destinations - Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Croatia - many of which are places I really want to go. It makes me just a little bit sad. Don't get me wrong. I love your travel photography, and your stories about the food you ate. I'm thrilled that you got to go on such fabulous vacations, and that some of you get to go every year, but man. It's hard being the young, broke blogger on the block. I have been very lucky in my life. I've had opportunities to visit and live in Europe, and I'm far better off than most people in the world. With all the work I do with impoverished populations, I know I'm being a big fat baby. The smart thing to do would be to meditate, reflect on all my blessings, and stop being attached to material things.

But I have to admit it. I miss eating in restaurants, especially outdoors. I miss the ocean like a lost limb. I love my town, but it's smack dab in the middle of the country and I won't be leaving it until next August, with the exception of the occasional half hour trip to Kalona for Amish groceries. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever actually make enough money to go on exotic holidays like the ones you blog about. Let's face it - I'm not the marrying kind. I'm never going to have double incomes, and if I do, we'll both be women and therefore statistically not making very much. But I'll try to be optimistic. I dream of one day having the money for a KitchenAid, and an apartment with plenty of cabinets, and enough bookshelves so my cookbooks aren't sitting on the floor, and ingredients - oh, the ingredients! I'm determined to one day make enough money to have culinary lavender, vanilla beans, matcha powder, orangeflower water, and all the other things I need to make those lovely recipes I see on your blogs. Maybe I'll even live somewhere with a Trader Joe's! So put in a quick prayer for me, or some good vibes if you're not the praying kind, that one day I'll be posting about gorgeous foodie vacations of my own. I'd appreciate it. :-)



Red Wine Granita

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 bottle red wine

Stir sugar and water to dissolve and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil a few minutes, then remove from heat. Cool a bit. Stir in the wine, pour into an 8" baking pan, and cool completely. Cover and freeze about an hour or until crystals start to form. Scrape with a fork, or if you're using a non-stick pan like me, a small rubber spatula (the one that comes with a Cuisinart is perfect). Scrape every forty minutes or so until crystals are more-or-less dry.

My thoughts:

I must admit this isn't my favorite. A spiced variety could have been better, and I'm wondering if it would just freeze by itself without the sugar. The taste is too much like alcoholic grape juice. I needed to use up this bottle, which I really liked (Red Truck Merlot, I'll blog about it later), but it's naturally just a bit sweet and that was perfect. Cold red wine is also just a little weird, and it doesn't freeze as well because of the alcohol. The good thing about that is that you can keep it around forever, because it will never freeze into a solid chunk.

Alcohol, Espresso, and Frozen? I'm there.

I've been wanting to do granitas since the summer started, and sure enough all the recipes soon started rolling in on FoodGawker and Tastespotting. Next, I think, is going to be red wine, but the one that caught my eye right away was courtesy of the lovely Nic at Cherrapeno - Cool Coffee Granita. Of course, the trouble with a granita is that it will eventually re-freeze into a block, and so it's not exactly ideal for leftovers. Also, it's probably not a good idea to get into the habit of drinking alone, so I invited Rita over to sample this caffeinated treat prior to an evening out (which involved pomegranate mojitos for $3 and baked boursin - this must have been my lucky night!) I think Rita could clearly give Vanna White a run for her money. I made her pose for this picture because her parents are apparently both readers of the blog (hi, Mom and Dad!) The thing in her other hand is the cinnamon tea that normally sits on my table, which she always thoughtfully thinks to move before I start pointing and shooting. Rita, I'm sorry for yelling at you to "move your hand, I can't see the drink!" It's my anal inner food photographer talking.

So I was quite satisfied with the presentation, and with the overall effect. I made some slight modifications to the recipe. First, instead of coffee I actually used espresso granules for an additional kick. I was afraid it wouldn't be sweet enough, but it was actually quite sweet, especially with the addition of the liqueur and whipped cream. Speaking of which, I must admit that I was too cheap for Tia Maria and bought a less expensive coffee liqueur, but it tastes just fine. I also didn't bother whipping cream, but did a trick with the Cool Whip so that you can't tell it's Cool Whip. Just squirt it into a bowl and give it a quick whip with a spoon until the ridges disappear. Your guests will think you whipped it yourself! Oh, and another note is that my granitas never freeze as quickly as recipes say. Your freezer/kitchen temperature may vary, so just check after an hour and keep checking every half hour until there are some frozen bits forming on the bottom and sides. That's when it's time to start scraping.