Apple Cider Ice Cream

Do you want to know why I made this Apple Cider Ice Cream from a Sweet Simple Life? Um, because I bought a turkey.  Huh?  Well around Thanksgiving, turkeys were around 40 cents a pound.  That's cheaper than a roaster chicken.  So I bought one to stick in my freezer.

Now, those of you that have a ice cream attachment for your stand mixer know that the freezer bowl takes up a goodly amount of freezer space.  (It takes up about the same space as an 11 pound turkey.) I figured if I had to take the ice cream maker bowl out of the freezer, I'd better put that freeze-y goodness to good use.

I chose this recipe for apple cider ice cream, not only because it sounded tasty, but because I had all the ingredients on hand.

The taste of the ice cream was very surprising to me.  Mainly because I think for some reason I was expecting it to taste like apple pie.  I don't know why.  It's not like it's called apple pie ice cream.  It's Apple CIDER Ice Cream.  Duh.  Once I got in my head what the ice cream was supposed to taste like, I really enjoyed it.

So far I have tried it plain, with granola, and with cinnamon.  So far I like the cinnamon topped version the best.  Some other suggestions for toppings I've thought of are: warm honey, crushed gingersnaps, warm cinnamon apples, caramel sauce, pralines, or crumbled pie crusts with cinnamon.

Finally, this is a very soft and smooth ice cream. Even after several days in the freezer it is still very easy to scoop. This is unlike most of the other ice creams I've made where they are hard as a brick after 2 days.   Also, milk based ice cream tends to be a bit grittier than the cream based versions.  This ice cream was a lot smoother and creamier than the other ice creams I've made with skim milk.  What a pleasant surprise!

Apple Cider Ice Cream adapted from a Sweet Simple Life
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 packet of instant apple cider (I used Alpine Spiced Apple Cider)
2 cups dairy (I used skim milk)

In a small bowl combine all ingredients and pour into ice cream maker following your manufacturers instructions.  Or if you don't have a ice cream maker: Combine the condensed milk, vanilla and cider mix.  In a separate, larger bowl beat the whipping cream (gotta use the cream cause milk won't hold the volume properly for this version,)  until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold in half of the condensed milk mix into the whipped cream.  Then stir in the other half until combined.  Pour into a shallow container and freeze overnight.