There’s also a Smart Ones Mocha Fudge sundae version that I hoped would be reminiscent of the Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge, but did not measure up to that high standard. I also wasn’t as happy with the Mint Chocolate Chip sundae which was not minty enough, and the chocolate cookie base was very crumbly. That’s okay, the others are clear winners!

To get the satisfying Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream flavor, I like the Mint Chocolate Chip cup instead of the sundae at 140 calories, 3.5 grams of fat and no trans fat. By the way, pass on the cup version of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough–there’s almost no cookie dough in it, and you’ll be stuck with a cup of almost all vanilla. To me if ice cream is not at least somewhat exotic, it’s not worth the calories. Besides for a few calories more, you get the heavenly Smart Ones Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough sundae.

Neither the Weight Watchers ice cream sundaes, nor the cups, are going to be huge portion sizes, but they are surprisingly satisfying–probably because of the cool flavors (pun intended).

With fantastic ice cream makeovers like these, it is deliciously possible to achieve healthy eating without giving up this favorite comfort food.

Have you ever thought about how much you spend on your favorite creamy dessert at the grocery store? Most brands cost between $5.00 and $7.00 per half gallon. The majority of home ice cream machines cost between $40.00 and $60.00. Considering that most families purchase ice cream on a regular basis, the savings are definitely worth it. Not to mention, homemade always tastes better to most people. You also don’t have to worry about all of the extra chemicals and preservatives that most other manufactured brands contain.

One of the greatest things about home ice cream machines is the variety available. There isn’t just one particular type. There is the Hamilton Beach 1 1/2 Quart Maker that makes your favorite icy treat within 20-40 minutes. All you have to do is add the ingredients and like magic, your cold treat is ready in a jiffy. If you’d rather take a more old-fashioned approach, then there is the White Mountain 6-quart Hand-Crank machine. With this machine, you get a lot more the old-fashioned way by using a hand crank. The biggest convenience to this particular machine is that you get to choose the texture you want. For creamier icy treat, simply churn a bit more.

Another one of the home machines available is the Play & Freeze 1-Pint Ice Cream Maker Ball. This machine allows you to make 1-quart of your favorite flavor within 30 minutes. It’s also portable, meaning that you can take it anywhere with you. It only weighs 3 pounds, making it the perfect addition for picnicking, camping, and road trips.

If you want more, you might find that you like the Deni Automatic Ice Cream Maker with Candy Crusher. This machine requires no ice or salt, and is automatic, so it’s hassle-free. What makes this machine so unique is that it crushes up pieces of candy into your favorite flavor, and it’s also very affordable.

Sure, you can always purchase your favorite brand at the store or in a restaurant, but what could be better than making your own icy treat at home? Anything homemade is always better, and cheaper.

But before you head out for a couple of gallons of Ben and Jerry’s remember that too much can find it’s way to the hips, belly and other unwanted places.

One of the key benefits of ice cream is that it may satisfy your cravings better than any other food. “When we tell ourselves we can’t have something, we immediately focus our attention on what’s forbidden, which increases our desire and chances of losing control,” says Marsha Hudnall, RD, of Green Mountain at Fox Run, a “non-diet” weight control spa.

A key benefit of ice cream is the calcium it provides. Only 4% of women over 50 meet the daily 1,200 mg goal. The average female calcium intake is only 652 mg. Less than one third of men reach these same goals.

Calcium is also ice cream’s “secret” slim down ingredient. In a recent study, overweight people who took a calcium supplement lost 38% more body fat than those who ate the same reduced-calorie diet without the supplement.

How does calcium help you lose? A diet low in calcium shuts down your body’s fat burning ability, say experts. When your body doesn’t get enough calcium, it triggers fat cells to store fat and get bigger.

So, how much ice cream is “reasonable?” The guideline is a one-half cup serving of no more than 125 calories. My personal favorite is Bryers No Sugar Added Vanilla. It has only 120 calories per 1/2 cup and the flavor reminds me of the “good old days” when we took turns cranking the six quart ice cream freezer full of moms special recipe.

First, you will need to cream together 2 sticks of butter with 3/4 cups sugar and 3/4 cups brown sugar. You can use shortening instead or part shortening and part butter if you don’t have enough butter.

Next, add in 2 eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix it together very well, but you don’t need to beat it for any length of time. You can use an electric mixer, stand or hand, if you have one and want to make it easier.

Now, in a separate bowl, add 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix it together thoroughly. Make sure there are no lumps.

Gradually add the flour mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, to the wet ingredients. If you are using an electric mixture, use the dough hook to mix in the flour because it will start to get tougher and the paddle won’t work as well.

After the flour is mixed in, stir in 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips. This is equal to 1 12 oz. bag. Stir it in and then put the dough in the refrigerator to chill. Chill it until the dough is harder, at least 2 hours. This will allow for cookies that hold their shape better.

When the dough is chilled, roll it in to 1 to 2 inch balls and place them two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size. Make sure the cookie sheets are cooled before you put the next batch on so that they don’t melt flat on the pan before they get in the oven.

Remove them from the oven and let the pan cool for about 3 minutes. Use a spatula to remove them from the cookie sheet and then place them on a wire rack to cool. Serve them warm with milk or let them cool completely and store them in a cookie jar for later.

Prepare all necessary equipments and ingredients in making coffee ice cream. Make sure that everything you need is within your reach so would not have to go around to get ingredients you forgot. Check that the coffee you will use has a good quality and is still fresh. You can choose whatever kind of finely ground coffee you want. Get four tablespoons of fresh finely ground coffee and then pour over a cup of hot water on it. Let the mixture stand for about ten minutes.

After a few minutes, strain the mixture to make sure that all the coffee grounds are removed. Mix eight ounces of soft brown sugar and six egg yolks in a bowl that is heatproof. Whisk the mixture until it thickens. Add in 500 ml of milk together with the coffee and whisk until all the ingredients are mixed well.

Once everything is mixed evenly, you may now place the bowl with the mixture over a saucepan with simmering water. Using also a heatproof spatula with flat bottom, stir constantly the mixture while cooking under medium heat for approximately ten minutes. Scrape the bottom of the bowl as you stir until such time it becomes thick.

Turn of the heat and remove the saucepan. Transfer the mixture bowl away from the saucepan and place on one side to cool. You can now transfer the cooled mixture into the ice cream maker following specific instructions in the equipment’s manual. After that, you get to enjoy your favorite coffee ice cream. You can do these steps by yourself at home.

The first chocolate chip cookies to mix up should be a butter vs margarine. You will notice that the butter dough is soft, while the margarine dough is almost too soft to handle. Now this could vary depending on which brands of butter and margarine used. Some have more of a water content than others. After baking, you will immediately notice that both cookies made with butter and margarine lost their shape while spreading. A taste will reveal a richer flavor in the butter cookies. Also the butter seems to enhance the flavor of the chocolate chips. An aftertaste seems to linger from the margarine cookies. Cookies made with the butter produces the chewiest ones.

The lard recipe makes a dry cookie dough. Lard is the fat from pigs and used to be very popular in home baking. It is still the choice in shortening in many countries and makes very good pie crust. Although the cookies taste good, lard just does not have the flavor like butter does for those chocolate chip cookies. The spread of the cookies is even greater than the butter and margarine thus diminishing the appearance.

The cookie dough using solid shortening is firm but not dry like the lard. The most noticeable characteristic is apparent while baking. The cookies become puffier with less spread, which makes a nice appearance for presentation. The taste is good but not as good as chocolate chip cookies made with butter, lard or margarine. Using the same brand of solid shortening but with imitation butter flavor added, produces different results. The dough is a little softer, but the appearance of the baked cookies is about the same. The biggest difference comes in the taste, not rating near as good as the butter, lard, margarine or plain solid shortening. Both of the solid shortenings produce the crispiest cookies.

They say Ruth regularly made chocolate cookies using bakers chocolate, but one day she ran out and only had access to a nestle semi sweet chocolate so she broke the bar into pieces and mixed it into the batter thinking it would melt and mix with it. And of course the chocolate pieces did not mixed like the bakers chocolate and the nestle toll house chocolate chip cookie was born.

Ruth Wakefield then sold the recipe to Nestle in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips. Nestle has since printed the recipe on the back of every bag of chocolate chips they have sold in North America with one small variation which is the option of using margarine over butter.

During world war two nestle toll house cookies were being sent to GI’s from Massachusetts who would then share them with other American
from different parts of the states. This lead to several soldiers writing home asking for Nestle toll house cookies which lead to many
people contacting Ruth wanting her recipe which lead to a nation wide craze for these delicious cookies.

However the history of chocolate chip cookies has more then just one story. George Boucher and his daughter Carol Cavanagh worked together at the toll house inn and Carol states that Wakefield being a seasoned baker and publisher of books would know the property of chocolate and know it wouldn’t melt and mix in.

Boucher states the real story is that his electric mixer knocked some nestle chocolate off the shelf into his sugar cookie mix from the vibrations and it got mixed together and formed chunks of chocolate in the mix. Boucher claims Wakefield wanted to throw away the mix because in her eyes it was ruined, but he wanted to keep it and bake it.

And so he did forming chocolate chip cookies. Who knows if his story is true or not, but it very well could be.

My mom and I never shared our recipes. We did this not be greedy but enjoyed baking so much and giving to others that when prompted for the recipe only replied how many did you want and we would go home and happily make enough for them to have.

Of course times have changed. The recipe my Grandmother changed and my mother changed again has landed in my possession. I don’t quite have the time I did when I was a child but still enjoy baking when I have a chance. The cherished moments with my children when we do have a chance to make a batch of cookies is priceless. Of course with now 3 teenagers in the home and their friends stopping by the batch of cookies does not last more than a day but that makes you feel good.

My mom and I still make cookies as we have ladies order 100 dozen or more for themselves to give as gifts to family and friends and they can no longer bake themselves and the cookies remind them of what they use to be able to bake and they still like to give their families home based goodies instead of store bought preservatives.

Enjoy these recipes. We will try to add a new time tested recipe weekly so check back often and give us your feedback and comments.

Grandma’s Secret Recipe Sugar Cookies and World Famous best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes are sure to be a hit. Check out the web site learn-about-it.com/knowhow to get these great recipes.

The first thing is to determine your goal and objective in opening a franchise. Do you think there are many people who will buy ice cream in the location where you are planning to put up your business? Are you interested in ice cream? These questions will guide you to do the right thing.

There are several companies or brands that you might want to buy franchise from. You can buy franchise from really popular ice cream brands or from your local shops. Of course, franchise form an internationally known ice cream is more expensive than a local one. This will depend greatly on your budget and what you think people will buy more in your area.

Once you have decided on which franchise to buy, you can now decide on the details of the business. First, you have to choose the location. This is very important. A well-placed business has a better chance to succeed than a establishment hidden form other peoples view. No matter how delicious or how popular your ice cream is, it will not sell if people cannot locate the shop. That is why you should find a good place for your business.

After you have laid out a business plan, you should now go to the company a buy a franchise. These companies will look into your financial status and background and they will decide whether you are capable to buy and run their franchise or not. You have to prove to them that you are capable and very much interested to run their franchise by laying out a well-thought out business plan.

There will only be a slight resemblance in the taste of your homemade ice cream and the ice cream you buy at the store. Yours will taste much better. The ingredients you are going to use, fruits, nuts and other flavorings are going to be fresh, not mass produced. You will put in your flair, personal attention and care. You will taste the difference in the finished product. Not to mention the enjoyable experience you will have spending time with family and friends making and enjoying your unique ice cream creation.

A good place to start, of course, will be with a good recipe. As you can imagine, there are hundreds of great ice cream recipes that you can use to get you started but you will undoubtedly want to come up with your own as you get more comfortable. Check with family members to see if there are family recipes that have been handed down through the years. The connection to the past is a big reason that many people choose to make their own homemade ice cream. What’s better than having ice cream “just like grandma used to make?”

Once the ingredients are mixed and smooth, load it into the churn or ice cream machine. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions regarding the ice and salt and activate the machine to churn the ice cream. Or if you’re using a manual churn, turn the crank for about 10 minutes to give the ice plenty of time to freeze the cream in the interior compartment. You may need to crank a bit longer if the cream has not set up after 10 minutes.

Once you have completed the “hard labor” put the ice cream in the freeze for a couple of hours to finish freezing into your wonderful frozen treat. The last part of the process is the easiest. Take your ice cream out of the freezer and find some family and friends to indulge in your delicious creation. Now that you’re an expert at homemade ice cream, start planning your next big party or family get together to show off your new skills!