Help me serve softly.

June 25, 2008 2:19 PM

We have been given two bags of commercial soft-serve ice cream mix. Is this stuff possible to use at home without an ice cream maker?
posted by TuxHeDoh to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

Don't see why not.

I assume it is liquid, you'd have to figure a way to freeze it quickly with ice or something to give it an ice cream texture..
posted by so_ at 2:28 PM on June 25, 2008

You just freeze it, but it doesn't have an ice cream like texture. It would work well if you froze it in a popsicle mold of some sort.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 2:37 PM on June 25, 2008

You can buy one of these puppies. After you use up the ice cream mix, you can throw juice into it and make slushies, make your own soft serve ice cream mix and whip it up, and even make soft serve frozen yogurt. What a fun way to spend the summer.
posted by HotPatatta at 2:54 PM on June 25, 2008

That's what we used to make frappes in the cafe I worked in. Ice cream mix, shaved/chopped ice, and a short shot of espresso.
posted by oneirodynia at 4:16 PM on June 25, 2008

Soft serve ice cream is designed to be frozen in a machine that adds air to it during the freezing process. (As well as being able to freeze it into really tiny ice crystals.) I don't remember the ratio, and it's different for different products, but it's something like 40%. Without such a machine, your results will probably not be stellar.

Also, check the sell-by use-by date(s) on the package. That stuff is awfully perishable.
posted by gjc at 6:51 PM on June 25, 2008

You could make it into a sort of faux-granita; that is, freeze it in a shallow-ish container and scrape the surface of the "ice" every half-hour or hour to make grainy crystals. See also: Granita.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:38 AM on June 26, 2008

If you're willing to experiment, I know that soft-serve ice cream mix was the secret ingredient to a fabulous vanilla sauce (for raspberry bread pudding). I really don't know anything more about the recipe, but it could be worth a try?
posted by veryhappyheidi at 8:44 AM on June 26, 2008