You can also do it the really old fashioned way -- the same method that has long been used to make sorbet. Just pour the mixture into a baking dish, and set that into your freezer. Also, you will need a heavy glass or metal bowl, an electric hand mixer, and a bowl of ice big enough for the first bowl to sit in. Put the heavy glass or metal bowl and the beater attachments for the hand mixer into the freezer at the same time as the ice cream mix to chill them. When its almost but not quite fully frozen, use a fork to break it up into small lumps about the size of a nickle or a little less. Then put it back into the freezer about 10 minutes to set up a bit again. Now, working as quickly as possible, take the pre-chilled heavy bowl out of the freezer,and set it in a bath of ice cubes in the 2nd larger bowl. Quickly transfer the ice cream mixture into the chilled bowl, and beat it as much as possible with the electric mixer ONLY until the lumps are broken up, and it begins to whip up a bit. Then, back into the freezer for another 15 to 30 minutes, until its not at all "melty" but still a little soft. Repeat the beating/whipping process several times -- the idea is to whip as much air into it to make it creamy and fluffy as possible, without melting it too much at each whipping. The chilled bowl, the ice bath, and the chilled beaters help, but beware that the very act of beating it creates friction between the bowl and beaters, which makes heat, so this process is a balancing act between beating in air and melting the ice cream. Done right, which isn't at all hard to do with just a little practice, this method does work, albeit it will never be quite as fluffy as commercial ice creams you are used to, which not only incorporate a large volume of air into the mix using specialized equipment, but which also generally use gums and stabilizers which prevents the product from melting and turning liquid as fast as a pure, cream and milk only product will. Good luck.

Frozen mango chunks (bought in a bag from freezer section) blended with skim milk in a blender can be just about as thick as ice cream (if you use more of the frozen fruit) or smoothie-like if using more of the skim milk.Usually doesn't need sweetener but if desired one packet of stevia would do the trick. Frozen ripe banana chunks blended with skim milk also provide a lot of creaminess but I don't really eat them any more due to calories. :) I was wondering about the low cal possibilities with the ice cream maker and appreciated everyone's info here. Husband just made a batch with full blown cream and sugar, with coconut flavoring, it was great but these days I'm not interested in anywhere near that much fat or sugar! Had one bite, it was enough :) Lost 20 lbs recently amazingly easily by just not eating overly fat foods and starches, wish I'd done it years ago :) It is surprising how quickly you get used to less fat and added sugar, then when you taste something with all that stuff in it, as I just did, it's like, man, way too much!! (Of course the fruit contains sugar and even skim milk has some, so it is still a dessert but at least it lacks the added fat and sugar.) I've read that some people use guar gum, I'm not sure where to buy that, anyone know? This post was edited by urthcreature on Sun, Aug 17, 14 at 15:30

I don't think a regular waffle iron would work because the plates on it are the wrong shape - there is too much space between them so a waffle has to be thick to contact both sides.

I have a wolfgang puck ice cream maker that has a built in compressor. I love it. I bought if off of ebay and it was cheaper than buying the cuisinart model that had the compressor. One word of caution. They are quite heavy and really shouldn't be moved around very much, especially not tipped or tilted. If that happens you have to wait a day or two, for the machine to stabilize before using. Other than that it works great, and you can continuously make ice cream in it. Claire de luna, I found this article online and saved it. The poster claims that it's not the cooking process but the eggs that affect the ice cream. The woman's ice creams are supposed to be amazing. I am going to try this the next time I make ice cream. I am making an olive oil basil ice cream for work with a strawberry balsamic glaze for the topping. (its a contest we have monthly). Anyways here's the post I saved. "We followed the recipe for her vanilla bean ice cream, adding some chopped flakes of dark chocolate while churning. Here are our thoughts: The texture of this ice cream was amazing!! It was soft, rich, and creamy. Where our eggless ice creams are usually icy and hard, this was incredibly soft and velvety. The process of simmering down the cream and whisking in a little cornstarch was much easier and faster than our usual custard process. We did overcook the cornstarch a bit; you can see how thick our "pudding" was. This gave the ice cream a little too much flavor of cornstarch. But this wasn't too noticeable; our taste testers raved over it. The addition of cream cheese for scoopability and softness is brilliant; it gives the ice cream just a slight tang, but not a noticeable flavor. It does seem to affect softness a lot. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe by Jeni Britton This exceptionally creamy ice cream relies on two unexpected ingredients: cornstarch (to help thicken it) and cream cheese (to make it more scoopable). 2 cups whole milk 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened (3 tablespoons) 1 1/4 cups heavy cream 2/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt Directions Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch. In another large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla bean and seeds. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and the vanilla flavors the milk, about 4 minutes. Off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in the salt. Set the bowl in the ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes. Strain the ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions. Pack the ice cream into a plastic container. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Freeze the vanilla ice cream until firm, about 4 hours. " Shelley S.