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“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream,” the adage goes, “and that’s pretty much the same thing.” Like watching blockbuster movies and sunbathing at the beach, ice cream is a summertime rite. Luckily, as the pandemic subsides, purveyors of Rocky Road and butter brickle will largely be back, scoopers and waffle cones at the ready. But if there’s one thing recent times have taught us, it’s that many of our favorite foods can be prepared at home—and taste better because of it. So why not try fixing a frozen treat yourself?
There are plenty of user-friendly options to assist in the endeavor. In fact, with YayLabs!’s soft-shell ice cream sphere making ice cream can be a literal ball. Fill one opening with sugar and cream, the other with rock salt and ice, and suddenly a game of soccer becomes an act of dessert prep. Other practical devices include Zoku’s single-serving bowl, which quickly freezes an ice-cream mixture when poured into its chilled stainless-steel interior, and the juicer-like mixer from Yonanas, which transforms frozen fruit into a velvety delight and dispenses it via a convenient chute. More serious sweet tooths might consider a heftier, self-contained machine that can produce larger batches. A space-saving iteration from Whynter produces two quarts of ice cream, gelato, or sorbet at a time, while the compact Lello 4080 Musso Lussino, with the tap of two buttons, creates one-and-a-half quarts of parlor-quality goodness in about an hour. However you choose to make the dessert, there’s more joy to be had once you’ve mastered the act of doing so by experimenting with flavors. For an atypical iced confection, try adding a tablespoon of olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh rosemary to a heated ice-cream mixture, and strain; or steep two bags of Earl Gray tea, plus a teaspoon each of lemon juice and honey, in the blend before pouring it into your device.
