Have you have desperately longed for something but never really made an effort to obtain it? Every time you see the object of your desire, or anything that reminds you of it, you long for its presence in your life. As more time passes, you realize that you still haven’t gotten around to acquiring it. In some cases, you wind up giving up on it entirely, never truly satisfying your thirst. Other times, you finally get off your butt and get what you want. Then you as yourself, “What the heck took me so long?”
That was me, with an ice cream maker. Every single time I saw an enticing ice cream recipe or dreamed up my own frozen fantasy, I would wish I had an ice cream maker so that I could make my dreams a reality. I would make comments to my family about how “I should really get an ice cream maker,” and continue to think so every time I saw one. My lack of money had a lot to do with the fact that I never went out and purchased one, but I can also cite laziness as an explanation. I just never got around to buying an ice cream maker.
The empty hole in my heart solely designated for this ice cream maker remained void until one fateful December day. I made my daily visit to one of my favorite food blogs, Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, to see what she was serving up that day. Her post happened to feature a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker giveaway. I thought to enter for a second, then moved on to another site when I considered the fact that I literally never win anything. Then, a few moments later, I decided to go back and enter. What could it hurt?
A couple days later, I had nearly forgotten about it, when I received an email telling me I had won. Imagine that! I was ecstatic, again, because I never win anything, and because, at last, I had an ice cream maker!
Although I have a lot of imaginative and indulgent ice cream flavor ideas that are soon to come your way, I decided to start with the most essential ice cream flavor: vanilla. I have never been a huge vanilla fan. It’s not bad; I’d just prefer something more exciting. Well, my little cookies, the tides have turned. Vanilla ice cream goes from “blah” to “va-va-vanilla!” when homemade. Like everything else on the planet, homemade is exponentially better.
That same concept applies to this incredible milkshake. If you want a milkshake to taste like toasted marshmallows, you don’t add artificial flavorings or even plain marshmallows; you put whole toasted marshmallows into the milkshake mix with all of their charred goodness. The results are everything you could ever dream of: luscious, liquified toasted marshmallows with an added creamy smoothness from the ice cream. It’s amazing how much that charred marshmallow taste shines through. And with every sweetly nostalgic sip, you might just taste a hint of summer campfire on the back of your tongue.
