Belinda, funny you should ask. My girls got me one of those little Cuisinart ice cream freezers for Christmas. My first batch of anything was a couple of cups of frozen strawberries, a quart of my homemade yogurt and enough Equal to sweeten it to taste. I put everything into the food processor to chop up the frozen berries, then into the freezer, it was very, very yummy and my Dad, who is diabetic, loved it. I liked it better with sweet cherries and some grated dark chocolate, same "recipe" but different fruit. It does freeze very hard, because of the ingredients, but I just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds like Bejay does, and it scoops right out nicely. I also made my very favorite ice cream, it's just amazing for those coffee lovers among us, like me. It's another recipe I got from the Cooking Forum. Espresso-Brownie Chunk Ice Cream ================================ Fatlester - Gardenweb 1/2 pound brownies cut in 1/4 inch chunks 1 cup whole Espresso, French or vienna roast coffee beans 2 1/4 cups half and half cream 3/4 cup sugar 3 egg yolks 1 cup whipping cream . Wrap and firmly freeze the brownie chunks. Put the coffee beans on a jell-roll pan and over them with a dish towel. Using a veal pounder or the bottom of a heavy sauce pan, press to crush the beans thoroughly. (Do not substitute ground coffee) Transfer the crushed coffee beans to a medium saucepan. Add the half and half and heat it to simmering. Cover and simmer 10 minutes , then set the pan aside, off heat, for 15 minutes longer. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into another saucepan, pressing to remove all liquid from the coffee beans; discard the solids. Stir the sugar into the strained coffee liquid and heat it to simmering. Put the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl and slowly whisk in the coffee liquid (or put the egg yolks in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process, pouring in the coffee liquid). Cool the mixture slightly by stirring in the whipping cream. Set the bowl over ice or refrigerate until the custard is thoroughly chilled. (Can cover and refrigerate overnight). Transfer the custard to the cnaister of an ice-cream machine. Follow manufacturer's directions and churn until the ice cream is half frozen. Add frozen brownie pieces and continue churning until frozen. Serve immediately, or transfer ice cream to an airtight freezer container, seal and kep frozen until serving time. (Can freeze for several hours). Annie

I've made this. No eggs or milk. Divine. I served it with the three ingredient ice recipe made with frozen raspberries. "Chocolate Sorbet Adapted from The Perfect Scoop This is not a sorbet for chocolate moderates. It's for people who like chocolate to be all they can taste when they bite into something. And for the love of all that is bathing suit season, someone with better moderation than me, because I suspect it is no longer "light" if you eat it all. Servings: Makes 1 quart (1 liter) but you can tell your husband less so he doesn't figure out how much you've kept from him. (At least until he sees the chocolate smudges on your face.) 2 1/4 cups (555 ml) water 1 cup (200 g) sugar 3/4 cup (75 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder Pinch of salt 6 ounces (170 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract In a large saucepan (yes, you must use a large one or it will bubble over. Trust me.), whisk together 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup (180 ml) water. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 15 seconds. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the mixture has become too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out." I have a Cuisinart dual bowl ice cream maker. Many folks think it's noisy but it doesn't bother me. It's not noisy for that long and it's lots quieter than some other appliances I own like my hand mixer or my blender. Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate Sorbet

I was wondering how "eggy" your vanilla would taste Deb. I've been happy with the flavor of almost all the recipes I've tried. I'm still working on the coffee one. And Terri, please let me know if you find a good swirl recipe! I swirled some left over chocolate glaze into my coffee and it wasn't bad but kind of thin. As far as the strawberry frozen yogurt, it's not super sweet. I think if you wanted it sweeter you could use vanilla yogurt instead of plain. Here are the recipes I've been using. I'd love to get some more if you have any you love. Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Eggs - 2 (I use Egg Beaters ONLY-never raw eggs) Sugar - 3/4 cup Whipping cream - 2 cups Milk - 1 cup Vanilla extract - 2 tsp Whisk the eggs until light and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar until completely blended. Pour in the whipping cream, milk, and vanilla extract, and keep whisking until smooth. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Chocolate-Cinnamon Gelato Dorie Greenspan (Epicurious.com) Yield: Makes about 3 cups 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon Pinch of salt 2 cups whole milk, divided 5 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream 1/3 cup coarsely crushed toffee candy (such as Skor, Heath bar, or Almond Roca) Whisk sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt in heavy medium saucepan until blended. Gradually add 1/4 cup milk, whisking until cornstarch is dissolved. Whisk in remaining 1 3/4 cups milk. Whisk over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and comes to boil, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook 1 minute longer, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat; add chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer gelato base to medium bowl. Mix in cream. Place bowl over large bowl filled with ice and water and cool, stirring often, about 30 minutes. Process gelato base in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions, adding toffee during last minute of churning. Transfer to container; cover. Freeze at least 3 hours and up to 2 days. ***Note-I had trouble with this being too thick when I tried to process it in the ice cream maker, but it may have been because I used choc. chips instead of bar chocolate. Strawberry Frozen Yogurt allrecipes.com 2 cups fat-free plain yogurt 2 cups pureed fresh strawberries 1 (14 ounce) can fat free sweetened condensed milk 1 cup fat-free milk 3 teaspoons vanilla extract Directions: 1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full; freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. Allow to ripen in ice cream freezer or firm up in refrigerator freezer 2-4 hours before serving. Remove from the freezer 30-45 minutes before serving.

Do you have a freezer thermometer? If not, you should get one to find out exactly what temperature your freezer is. It must get down to 0°F in order for the ice cream maker to work. As also said above, if the room temperature is too high, it will take longer. I've noticed that if people open the freezer too often, it causes the freezer temperature to rise, and so I'm very happy now that I have an ice dispenser in the door so that my freezer door is very seldom open now. If the door does get opened, it should be closed as quickly as possible - it is very bad to stand browsing with the freezer door open - I won't tolerate that. Also, when you are getting something out of the freezer, you should get it out as quickly as possible and close the door as quickly as possible in order to keep the temperature down. This is more critical on older freezers, but it will also save you energy on the newer ones. How old is your freezer? Are you able to measure the temperature? Lars