Mary and Barbie make raspberry ice cream

Part of the instructions that come with the Barbie Ice Cream Make

This is a follow-up to my previous article at http://www.skippercollector.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-california-line-ice-cream-shoppe.html about the 1987 Barbie Ice Cream Maker.  Yes, I finally made ice cream!

The Ice Cream Maker tub
holds about two cups.

The storage tub that comes with the Ice Cream Maker holds about two cups.  I don't know what the tub is made of, but the plastic is hollow and thick and when it is room temperature you can hear liquid sloshing around inside.  The instructions say to put the empty tub in the freezer for about 12 hours so that the liquid will freeze.  I had the tub in the freezer for days before I had the chance to experiment, so I figured it was cold enough.

I followed the instructions to combine the ingredients.  I did not have strawberry jelly, but I did have Smucker's Natural Red Raspberry Fruit Spread (note to Smucker's: I expect a commission for mentioning your product), so I added that instead.  Per instructions, I then placed the ingredients into the tub, covered it with the lid holding the mixing paddle, and stuck it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

This is what the lid and tub look like from the top
with the ice cream inside.  The now-broken paddle
is supposed to fit into the lid.

The liquid never did freeze.  It looked like I was going to end up with raspberry eggnog.  In frustration, I dumped the contents into a medium-sized ceramic mixing bowl, placed the lid and mixing blade on top of it, and left it in the freezer for another hour.

It set!  It took awhile but it was eventually the semi-mushy condition that ice cream was supposed to be.  So I did my taste test and....

My eyes widened.

It was delicious!  I nearly fell over.  My cooking skills are okay but not contest-winning and this was the best thing I'd ever created.

The ice cream had more ice crystals than store-bought but it was also creamier and thicker and richer than store-bought.  I can eat only a few spoonfuls at a time.

Voila! A bowl of Barbie's Raspberry Ice Cream!

I made one mistake.  I put the ceramic bowl back in the freezer overnight.  So of course the liquid froze hard by the next morning.  I attempted to use the lid with the attached blade to mix up the ice cream and proceeded to break the paddle.  I stuck the bowl into the refrigerator instead to let it get back into liquid and then dumped that back into the original tub.  For whatever reason, the ice cream has now stayed the correct consistency in the tub in the freezer.

I think you can just use the instructions to make your own two cups of ice cream, and mix it up and allow it to set for an hour in a ceramic mixing bowl.  You can cover the bowl with foil and use a spoon to stir it.  But I don't know what you can store it in after you get the contents to set properly so they won't turn hard in the freezer.  You'll just have to experiment.

I don't know what plain vanilla ice cream from the Ice Cream Maker's recipe tastes like.  I've eaten homemade vanilla ice cream before made in a large metal mixer and always thought the cream was very bland and didn't have much substance to it.  The recipe I followed made a product that was much more of a thick and not-too-sweet mousse.