The Behemoth

I made a couple of batches of Protein Ice Cream yesterday.

Chocolate Malted Milk Ball and Vanilla Malted Milk Ball. Sooooo good and when I say good I mean to-die-for, toe curling good.

I only had one cylinder frozen so I had to break out the big guns for the second batch. Speaking of... I get a lot of emails asking about the ice cream maker(s) I use so I figured I take an entry to talk about them.

I actually have three different Ice Cream Makers...

a hand crank Donvier (a thrift store find for 50 cents I've had for 20 years),
the Cuisinart Ice-20 (my favorite),
and a Cuisinart Ice-50BC Automatic Machine (aka "The Behemoth.")

The story goes I was doing post weight loss surgery cooking demonstrations and I thought "The Behemoth" would be great for my demos because it didn't require me to freeze the cylinder the night before which hard to do when you are flying to a location. "The Behemoth" is an automatic commercial-style compressor ice cream maker, no freezing necessary. Good idea huh? Yeah I thought so too. Well so I ordered one. UPS delivered it. They left it on the front door step and when I went to bring it in the house I almost gave myself a hernia. It's almost 40 pounds... 36.2 to be exact. Hence the nickname it has been given. Not really practical to shove in a suitcase.

I'm no Consumer Reports but here's my review of the machines I own:

Donvier Hand Crank - Pros and Cons: Fun but only if you plan to make Protein Ice Cream once a year. Your arm will need to recover that long after cranking for 20 minutes. If you have kids and they broke your favorite Aunt's vase or something and need a fitting punishment have them use this to make ice cream. How it works: Freeze the cylinder, pour the stuff in and turn. Forever. Ice your arm.


Cuisinart Ice-20 - Pros: I heart this machine. Makes yummy Protein Ice Cream in 20 minutes. Lightweight and counter top attractive. Cons: you need to have freezer space for the cylinder and no making 2 batches unless you have an extra cylinder (I do but then you need even more freezer space) Also you need to have the cylinders always in the freezer you never know when you will want to make a batch. How it works: Freeze the cylinder, plug it in, turn it on, and pour the stuff in.


Cuisinart Ice-50BC - Pros: This is for hard-core ice cream lovers. Makes the best Protein Ice Cream. A super creamy gelato-like end product. No need to freeze anything so no fighting for freezer space with the mystery meat and frozen peas. No downtime between batches waiting for the cylinder to freeze again. Cons: Could damage your internal organs lifting it. Hard core price tag. How it works: Pour the stuff in, plug it in, turn it on.

Here's the two yummy creations...



Shelly's Malted Milk Ball Protein Ice Cream

1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk (or Regular Milk)
2 scoops Chocolate Protein Powder or 2 scoops of Vanilla Protein Powder
2 Tablespoons Malted Milk Powder (w/out sugar added)
1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Torani Syrup (I used SF Vanilla)
2 Tablespoons Sugar Free Malted Milk Balls, crushed

Place the Malted Milk Balls in a Ziploc and give them a whack with a hammer or meat tenderizer to crush the balls. Set aside. Mix together milk, protein, syrup & malted milk powder. I used this gadget to mix it up. It makes it airy and lump free. If you don't have one just toss it in a blender on super high. You want it fluffy almost double in size. Pour into ice cream maker. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. 5 minutes before done add the crushed balls. You can eat it right away it is soft serve-ish but I like to put it in the freezer to set for an hour.