How was your 4th of July weekend? For me, it was a great weekend! I did a little shopping, a little cooking, a little relaxing, and also got some work done I needed to do. Plus it was super nice to get to spend time with Drew. He goes to school full time, works full time, and runs his own business–he’s a busy man. But luckily, he had a long weekend off work for the Independence holiday.

To celebrate, we bought ourselves a little 4th of July present–an ice cream maker attachment for our KitchenAid mixer!

Then we put it to good use making lots of ice cream. Homemade ice cream is one of my absolute favorite things and the perfect way to celebrate a summer holiday! (Plus it was one of the hottest days in New Orleans so far this summer)

I really like the way it works. It is super easy. The ice cream mixer bowl goes right in the freezer and freezes up, then you take it out and put it on the mixer just like the normal mixer bowl and in about 20 minutes, you have a fresh batch of ice cream!

We also got 4 of these cute little glass bowls and several cute glass juice glasses at a thrift store for 75% off for their 4th of July sale. We paid just a couple dollars for 4 bowls and 6 glasses! 🙂

We’ve only made vanilla ice cream so far (it’s my favorite as far as homemade ice cream goes). We’ve made it a couple different ways so far though to try to see what recipe we like best, although so far we’ve only tried no-egg recipes. (we still have plans to try several more and Drew is more than ready to make some chocolate next)

Here is the ratio/recipe that we’ve been using and it works perfect for the two of us. It makes a smaller batch, but still enough for a couple bowls of ice cream.

1 cup cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Super simple and easy to remember. We tried it the first time with heavy whipping cream and it was good, but a little too rich for me. The second time we made it, I used half & half instead of heavy whipping cream and I loved the way it turned out. A little more subtle and delicate and not so thick and rich. Drew preferred it richer, but I guess it all just depends on your individual tastes.

The richness of the flavor and the creaminess of the texture all depends on the type of cream you use. The higher the percentage of fat in the cream, the richer it will be and vice versa. When making your own ice cream, keep in mind these fat percentages:

Heavy Cream 36%
Whipping Cream 30%
Light Cream 18%
Half & Half 10%
Whole Milk 3.25%

I can’t wait to try out some more ice cream flavors and some with added toppings!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Drew and I had a great time yesterday watching the fireworks over the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans. 🙂

(P.S. I totally think this would have been fun to try, but we didn’t have any sparklers. 🙁 Let me know if any of y’all try it out!)