Now there's a picture. Remember, frozen treats taste best when the dish matches. :)

I've typed 3 comments only to lose them!

Your yogurt strawberry ice cream looks like something I'd enjoy! I adore soft, not hard frozen ice cream, and it's only that way straight from the maker.. I need to remember to add a bit of booze. DH likes strawberry chunks, but biting into a frozen strawberry isn't my thing. Also, I really like full fat yogurt, which, if you add all that up equals yours 😊. I'd never have thought of molasses, though, and I don't have a pretty bowl, either!

I've been playing with fruit popsicles, and need to make more yogurt to add to some. I'm enjoying them, but hubs informed me he preferred ice cream. I'm trying to reduce sugar, which we both like,too much. I don't strain the fruit mixture for clearer pops,as I want the fiber, too. Made some granny smith pops that tasted like apple cider! It's the time of year for frozen treats!

Found a bag of last year's frozen strawberries in the bottom of the freezer. I also have a banana that by tomorrow will be too ripe, so for dessert tonight I am planning strawberry-banana milkshakes. That will also use up the vanilla ice cream that has been sitting in the freezer for waaay too long.

Oh, Edie, I want one!!

I ended up with four pounds of bananas, rather than four bananas, so I have extras which will get overripe. I could just sacrifice one now.

The bourbon and fat did nothing, except make it not get frozen for too long to begin with. It was only a few hours in the freezer when I scooped it, and not frozen through. Today it's rock hard! I just put it back in the freezer and found another snack, but I think I'll partially thaw it, fill the popsicle mold, and maybe whir some up with a banana to make a shake or smoothie.

I think the iciness will be nicer as a popsicle... Just now, it's hard as rock and even my sawtooth scooper can't make a dent.

Oh no! When one wants ice CREAM, a frozen rock just does not fill the bill. But as popsicles and/or a milkshake it should be pretty doggone good. We are just finished with dinner so our milkshakes will be about an hour.

Thanks for the reminder! I took the yoghurt out of the freezer at about 7:00pm, and separated the container part from the outer caddy that creates the air chamber, and pulled off the top as soon as it had warmed enough. The top sat loosely on it and the container sat on the soapstone for greatest mass of heat exchange. My meeting started at 7:30. Two hours later, when the meeting ended and I saw your reminder, I was thinking, "Uh oh". Well, the corners and very bottom were completely melted, but the main mass was still a block of ice! This time it was cutable with scooper or spoon, but with pressure, not yielding like proper ice cream or frozen yoghurt.

The popsicle mold (from my sophomore year in college--don't let people convince you that if you haven't used it in years you never will! Though I did have to use a step stool and grabber to get it off the top shelf) is filled and in the freezer. I hadn't thought about what to do with the rest of the yoghurt, however! Saving out a portion for me (I didn't bother with the blender), there was still half left. Luckily, on of my pint ice cream bins only had something that needed purging nestled in it. The others have boxes of butter. Then, of course my freezer attacked me with frozen blocks of this and that when I opened it to put the container back in. It's totally miffed! I have a feeling part of the ice block thing was that it's overstuffed and too cold, but earlier it kicked out the thermometer, which fell apart when it hit the tile. I put it back together, but I have no idea if it still works.

It's getting hot. We have airconditioning, to which I'm actually not allergic. But I still like to have something really cold in the Summer. I think I'm about to buy the flex temp device I've been ogling. I'm not buying clothes (confession--I went to my meeting in a shirt with a hole in the front and no pants! Both were under the table. :) ) Since, I, like S's New York friends, seem to be using my entryway as a pantry (mostly for water--the kind I had until the end of last year could sit on the porch, but I don't trust the pop bottle style plastic in the sun), I figure why not a cooler unit? But I have to make sure it's not loud first...

Edie, that shake looks awesome!! And that glass is a perfect slice of happy!

My freezer takes spells where it hates me and randomly throws things at me too. I'm more than half-convinced there's a poltergeist living in it.

Turned out to be more milkshake than I could drink tonight. It will really taste good in the heat of the afternoon tomorrow!

If one must do "meeting" might as well be comfy!

Unless one prints out the agenda ahead of time, and my computer and printer have been feuding for years, the hardest part of the meeting is when the chair changes the screen to other literature and forgets to change it back. Otherwise, it's actually better because people don't bring bits of work to finish during the meeting, and if you use private chat, no one else can hear the crosstalk. OTOH, more people are late and having tech troubles, so the meetings go longer than in person. At least I remembered to go. :) Too bad I didn't remember to change. :)

I've just looked at the cooler again and been tempted to an upgrade. There's a dual zone one for not too much more, which would solve all my problems It's still under a yard wide, there's plenty enough room for ice cream in the small side, and the large side has a tall well and a short one over the cooler, which would be perfect for a couple bottles of red wine and to have a cheese or two ripening. Both wine and cheese are supposed to be stored in caves, so I can set cave temperature. Or all one or the other. Perfect for entertaining. It also has a jacket. :) I'm giving myself a cool off period <hee>. I don't really have a good place for it and don't want the compressor ringiedinging all the time. I'm trying to think of a place in the kitchen--where I left no space uncabinetted--where there's a plug!

I make yogurt ice cream by just whazzing yogurt from the fridge with frozen fruit. Eat straight away. Simple.

That wouldn't be cold enough here. It would be a melty soupy mess by the time it got into a bowl. :) Even ice cream right out of the freezer gets gulped down fast because it melts right away if it doesn't have gums and starches and industrial magic. OTOH, frozen fruit allowed to thaw for 30 seconds is pretty awesome straight.

The ice pop solution was a good one. Getting a single one out meant running the corner one under hot water for too long. Next time I'll try a glass of water. It was much more pleasant to eat as a pop. Thanks for the idea!

Edie, I just saw your milkshake. And why was I not invited over?? Hmmm?? LOL! I haven't made a milkshake since last summer. I want to now, but that'd mean I have to make ice cream (refuse to buy it now). I'm still playing with fruit Popsicles.

Plllog, glad the Popsicle idea worked for you, and oh how I agree, especially on kitchen items! I had to buy a mold, as I've never made them before (apparently one can make them in drinking glasses too, but I don't trust my overstuffed freezer with glass right now!). I got the silicone ones, with the plastic non-disposable sticks (handy!), and I just have to squeeze and push from the bottoms. Nice. I am quite sure you're enjoying strawberry ice creamsicles right now!

I'd far rather have strawberry ice creamsicles or a strawberry milkshake than the pops I made recently... watermelon and kiwi. Sounds good, right? I couldn't wait for the kiwi to ripen enough, and though pretty... good heavens the kiwi part was too tart. I chopped mine off. The watermelon pop part was nice.

FWIW, before churning, I macerate the fruit in something alcoholic to keep it from turning icy. Sometimes it even works!

Good tip! It's the yoghurt that's the big problem--this was the least watery yoghurt I've met--it's more like cream!. I have food gums, but don't like them in home frozen treats.

2Many, I have silicone squeeze tubes, but figured that they wouldn't work on the ice blocks, so chose the old juice pop maker. It's a lot like this one, but more delicate and only six pops. Nowadays, they seem to be aimed at teething babies. :)

Popsicles and ice cream sandwiches here. Been after that for a couple years. For the summer bbq parties it is such an easy prep ahead and does not involve a bowl and spoon. (or at home as well). I just can't find it. Then have been looking for another mold on amazon. Reviews are all over the place. Best size/quality mold. (I left mine at the beach home last summer) I think.

I've had mine for at least 20 years. Probably from a PotteryBarn sale shelf. For a niece/nephew visit.

I'm getting picky. My old mold is perfect. 8 and small. Like the bottom 5-6 inches of a candle size.

I slow dehydrated a handful of fresh cherries, pitted, in my oven last week. Still juicy. Wanted a fudgesicle with cherries. And a yogurt creamsicle having a few good oranges in the crisper. So hot today. Do have some various silicone molds. Not the same but worked. I just want a small treat or have a second one. 🤪

I can drop them into my daily water also. I have so much fruit and produce right now I have to get creative. Covid kitchen cleansing. Tomorrows project.

I have some cheap chop sticks that I could easily cut down. The paper wrapped ones you tear apart. yada yada.

Frustrating to have a good one (mold) and try to find something on-line.

DH could care less. His late night snack is one small corn tortilla, a cheese selection, kimchi, hot pan, folded .quesadilla-ish. No interest in frozen treats. Or anything sweet.

If you like a new style popsicle mold please share the brand. I just want my old one now,😩, tried and true.

Chopsticks is a great idea. You might take a closer look at the current molds. A lot of them have separate sheaths that stand in a holder, rather than all joined up, which I think is an improvement, and the ones geared toward little kids are smaller, though some are the wrong kind of shape. There are some that are candle base shaped (which my old one is as well). There's also one which is shown but not available on Amazon which is metal (plastic free). The link is to the company.

These are the Popsicle molds I purchased - I bought 2. They make 6 pops each. Though it doesn't say, if you run your cursor over the image to enlarge, you'll see on side (3) has a slightly wider tip than the other 3. Truthfully, one doesn't notice the size difference unless you're paying close attention. They aren't tiny, nor are they large. Good size for a small pop. They come with a cleaning brush (which isn't really needed), and a collapsible funnel - again, I have funnels, but these are fine. I chose these for the size, and the fact they have plastic sticks with drip guards (you can still put foil over the molds and poke a pop stick through, or a chopped chopstick, lol, or with something appropriate for cinnamon, a cinnamon stick as a handle.

I don't run water over these - I just gently tug at the sides to loosen a bit, then push up from the bottoms. I've used them several times now, and they are holding up just fine. Best yet, I have nice sized freezer shelves, and both fit in one shelf.

Amazon.com: Helistar Popsicle Molds 6 Pieces Silicone Ice Pop Molds BPA Free Pop · More Info

MAKE ROOM FOR ICE CREAM!

I ordered the dual zone cooler for alternate temperatures. It also knows when to be 110v and when to be 12v dc, so good for car camping. :) But that doesn't solve today. I want ice cream now! Superdedooper chocolate ice cream in the scoopy container likes being very cold. So first thing this morning, I took a bunch of containers from the kitchen freezer down to the garage. It's still choked, but not so badly and room for the scoopy bin. In went the bin. Base/custard got made and churned. I'd post a picture but it's not attractive and just looks like chocolate pudding anyway.

I haven't made any food, mind you. No enchiladas (or maybe I'll do stuffed quesadillas instead). No salads. But we have superrich chocolate ice cream, and the freezer is all cleaned up. :)

[No, there isn't a recipe. It's standard custard base chocolate ice cream but instead of normal good cocoa powder, use Valrhona.]

Thanks for the link plllog. That one is in my top three. I do take my time deciding on any product being so often disappointed without seeing in person. I do like separate 'vessels'. I could bring up a couple from the downstairs freezer, enjoy, then clean them and fill with another small batch for variety.

Strawberry yoghurt pops

Superdedooper chocolate ice cream. I didn't warm up the container past getting the lid off, and just chipping out some with the sawtooth scoop. Not rock hard. Warmer it's more luscious, but I just wanted cold. You don't need much to feel very satisfied.

Ohhh I need to come visit you! Looks so luscious!

Edie, I'd love that! You can make your own, however, if you're willing to indulge in the ingredients. I used to get these little tubs of cocoa powder packed at Whole Foods. They were messy to use and never enough. Then I got smart and got a whole case through Amazon at an amazingly smaller price per ounce. Now I have way too much cocoa powder (it's been years and I'm only through about 1/6 of it), but it holds much better than we're taught (though maybe not in your climate), I haven't spent any more than for the amount I've used, and I don't think about the price when I'm making treats--just general nutritional guilt. :)

I may have to yet break down and get an ice cream freezer. I've tried the 3-ingredient no churn (condensed sweetened milk, vanilla and stiffly beaten heavy whipping cream) but it's got a slightly "off" flavor and the texture just isn't pleasant. My parents had one (electric) that had the big metal canister and wooden dasher that you packed in layers of ice & salt. Mom cooked the custard base. OMG so good but messy. My brother & I had a chart so we'd know whose turn it was to get to lick the dasher! The kind you can get now with a bowl to stick in the freezer - does it make life any easier?

You might want to start a new thread about the frozen bowl kind. I've never used one. I have a big heavy expensive Italian gelato maker with compressor (freezer), which doesn't aerate as much as a regular ice cream maker. I figure if I wanted fluffier, I could put my immersion blender into it. :) Or maybe run the mix through the Vita-Mix which is the world's best emulsifier and aerator. Though maybe then, instead of putting the paddle in the ice cream freezer, just let it freeze, or maybe just put it in the freezer. I could put crushed ice in the air space of the scoopy bin. :) The gelato maker's bowl is integrated into the unit, which sounds hard to clean, but is the opposite. There are no cracks and creases for the mix to get into. I keep its own sponge in it and use the measuring cup from making the ice cream as a vessel for wash water and bailing. It really isn't much trouble. I have nowhere to move it to, however, and in the Winter it can sit unsused. :( With the new cooler which is coming, I hope to be able to keep homemade ice cream and frozen yoghurt around always, and have it be servable. :) Store bought can be too sweet. ... If I want, I can use both sides for ice cream. Or maybe one for ice cream and one for yoghurt. :) Or all frozen in the big side and wine in the small. [Someone needs to get me out of the house!]

Edie, I have to agree with you, the custard style homemade ice cream is so much better, and better than store bought. Cuisinart makes one that you put the bowl in the freezer. Mine has a compressor too, and it's heavy. I tried non cooked ice cream and I prefer cooked custards. Except Lar's strawberry, it's really good. I say go for it!

Plllog, it never occurred to me to use an immersion blender to emulsify the ice cream just before I put it in the maker, OH MY GOODNESS, that could be genius! Have you tried that? I told DH I'd make some soon, and I am positive now that I'm going to try that! I'll report back when I do.

ETA: I went brain dead... I forgot to say how good and chocolate-Y your ice cream looks! I love chocolate, and I love chocolate ice cream! I tend to smush mine with the spoon and let it get a bit melty. Do either of you all do that, or do you prefer it more frozen?

I haven't tried it. I was thinking more about the aeration difference between what the gelato maker makes and whipped ice creams. Then I thought that the super emulsification of the Vita-Mix might last through churning in the gelato maker. After the cooler comes, I'll be happy to experiment. :)

Edie, your description of the one you grew up with reminded me of the hand-cranked, rocksalt and ice, wooden bucket with paddle that they had at camp when I was little. It made something more like a frozen milkshake (have you had one? Make a proper, frothy shake and put the covered glass in the freezer four about an hour? So good!). I bet the electric one you had worked a lot better. :)

I'd read the ice cream freezers home makers can buy don't put as much aeration in the ice cream, and my thoughts mimic yours in hopes that the extra aeration would last through the churning, freezing. We'll see, huh?

My first homemade was at a church social, hand crank. I didn't know what the fuss was about until I tasted it. Later I bought an electric maker that used rock salt and ice, but had to be used outside due to the melting ice.

I'm still making lots of fruit Popsicles, experimenting with whatever fruit we have hanging around. They are good, not as rich as ice cream, but quite refreshing on a hot day.

Off topic: Finally got a new router today, after running out of cell phone data (how did I live without my constant googling before, lol!). New computer comes tomorrow, and I rather dread setting it up, but need it desperately for working.

Dad said it didn't make as good an ice cream as the hand-crank but was so much easier to use! OK now I am going to have to experiment with frozen milkshakes :-) I had frozen coffee this afternoon and it was good. Funny how I can't stand sweetened hot coffee but frozen must have some sugar in it.

2Many, there are home ice cream freezers that do an adequate job of aeration. The frozen bowl with KA mixer and whip attachment might do too good a job. :) I'll never know. I do keep spacers in my freezers (bags and blocks of ice that get pulled out for use in coolers and replaced--and occasionally removed to make more room), but I'm not replacing them with a freezer bowl just to experiment with aeration. The gelato texture is phenomenal, and there are artisanal ice cream stores that deliver if anyone doesn't like it. ;) The one I'd like to try is what they use on TV cooking shows, where it does some kind of shaved thing instead of traditional churning. Makes quicker ice cream with no wandering into the butter zone.

Congrats on the router!!! Yea!!!

OTOH, I have not one iota of desire to play with liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. I mean, really not any, but I could see at some point doing some kind of weird Modernist thing with it, but only to get something you can't get any other way. I'm too chicken to even use my kitchen torch, not even outside on the tile where there's nothing to burn. BWAHCK!! Chicken I am. I have the long suede gloves and friction starter. For that matter, I could get my father's welding helmet and leather apron. I wasn't scared using his big acetylene torch for brazing brass armatures. My little Rosle butane torch, which is an overgrown cigar lighter, scares the heck out of me. I think I'll either light the kitchen on fire (the island is covered with soapstone for heaven's sake!) or touch it when it's hot (hence the gloves).

Edie, when I was travelling many years ago, it was hot out and we stopped for evening beverages. I thought iced coffee would be perfect, rather than hot (I'm not really a coffee drinker) and I was totally embarrassed when it arrived to find it was a confection. I'm not a coffee drinker (it's not a flavor I dislike, but just would usually prefer something else), and I detest floats (or even drinking soda pop while eating ice cream), but what iced coffee meant to them was not the coffee alternative to iced tea, to which I was accustomed, but a kind of slushy where the pieces were big, like crushed ice, rather than foamy like a real slushy, topped with a huge scoop of very hard (i.e., slow melting) vanilla ice cream, ice cream float style. The ice cream served as the cream and sugar. The whole thing was in no way a thirst quencher, but it was absolutely fantastic.

Do try the frozen shake. Be careful not to let it go hard, but a bit of icy crust is okay. :)

It's HERE!! I opened the front door and here was this unmovable box blocking the way. Luckily, this was a good day for minions. :)

The thing I was most worried about was noise. Phew! When first plugged in, there was a whir. As it got cooler, there was added a gurgle. A quiet susurration. Once it achieved temperature, it didn't make any noise at all.

I set the freezer to 15° F. and put the ice cream and yoghurt pops in. I did chill the other side. To 45° F. But I'm not sure what to put in it, yet. I have wine. I should chill it. :)

I make fudgesicles. These usually need to be dipped in hot water, otherwise the handle comes out and leaves the good part behind.

plllog, yes, when I make "frozen coffee" it is like a slushy. No ice cream or whipped cream though, just a touch of 1/2 & 1/2. And congrats on the cooler! That is wonderful and am looking forward to hearing of your adventures with it.

Jasdip ... Fudgesicles ... Yum!

Wow plllog, that's a beautiful freezer chest! Color me green with envy ☺️. And that's a good temp for ice-cream. Oh how I wish I had room for another freezer. I don't. I'm sure you're over the moon pleased with it.

I adore your popsicle holders Jas! I love "fudgicles" as I used to call them. Never made them, you've inspired me again!

Edie, I'm begging you, please tell me how you make your slushy iced coffee. Please! I drink an iced coffee every evening, just coffee, and yes, lots of sugar because it's not the same as a cup of hot, and half and half. I just add ice. It's hot here, so I'd love slushy!

So, I made vanilla ice cream, cooked custard, and after it chilled I used my Bamix pro immersion blender, with the emulsion tool, and blended it until it was 2/3 'higher', then put it in the cuisinart, using the Gelato paddle (it has an extra blade for more whipping). ETA I meant aerator tool, not emulsion. It was still soft last night, so tonight I'll know if it made any difference and report back. Oh, I also made only half at a time, which froze it in half the time, just in case. And lastly, while whipping into a frenzy, I managed to get it all over me, the kitchen, and the floor, trying to incorporate as much air as I could! Ha! I can say there were no ice crystals in it last night, which was my only fear. I like silky, not icy, ice-cream.