Double-Churned Ice Cream

I have learned a lesson--if you haven't used a small appliance in a while, you should double check that you have all the parts before you start.

We haven't made ice cream in a couple of months and when I pulled out the ice cream maker to churn I didn't realize I was missing the lid. Everything looked fine so I poured and started the clock for 20 minutes. I returned to the kitchen when the timer dinged ready to add the mix-ins and was extremely disappointed to see frozen edges and liquidy middle. What happened I wondered? I knew the custard was good--but what happened with the machine? Did we need a new one?

I scraped out the semi-liquidy ice cream and put it back in the fridge to melt back to original state. I had to defrost the ice cream freezer completely to clean off the frozen edges. A few days later, I checked my custard and it was still good and totally a custard again (not half frozen). So I re-churned. But before I did I found the clear plastic lid that holds the whole contraption together.

The result? Thick churned ice cream ready to eat immediately after the second churn. If you're adding mix-ins add early. The downside is that this ice cream is in the freezer and now as hard as a rock. Churn twice, eat immediately.

*Update* After heating the ice cream in the microwave for a few seconds it was once again soft like regular ice cream but the double-churned texture was by far the best.