So many flavours, so many egg whites left over

Merry Christmas.  Happy New Year.

There it is. 2012, right there in front of you.  A new year, all fresh ready for new things to do.  So what does one do with a new year?  One of course perfects a new skill.

Because I now own a chest freezer, I got something I have always wanted for Christmas.  The ice-cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid.  I thought I perhaps already loved my Kitchen Aid a little to much to be considered healthy, but now it has an ice-cream maker to go with it - hold me back.

December 27 and I tackled my first batch.  Plain vanilla?  Oh no, not me.  A little judicious googling brought forth a recipe for salted caramel ice-cream (which as we know is one of my favourite flavours).  Sadly, no pictures remain of this masterpiece.  It was delicious.  And since then there has been no stopping me.  We have made:

• Vanilla with raspberries
• Creme fraiche and lemon
• Mango sorbet
• Honey
• Coffee

The honey, made with Tasmanian Prickly Box, is particularly fine.  And the coffee pleases even me, which is a big call, since I am very fussy about my coffee ice-cream.

In this bowl, a scoop of honey, a scoop of coffee and a scoop of mango sorbet.  Perfect on a hot evening (or a cold evening for that matter).

Next I want to try liquorice.  And gingerbread.  And lemongrass.  And tarragon and anything else I can think of.  Meanwhile, we are buried in meringues, as I have to do something with all those egg whites and after one disastrous attempt I am happy to leave macaron making to the experts.  (Maybe some almond bread would go nicely with the ice-cream).

Sadly, this dairy excess does not bode well for the new improved Gretchen who has been making an appearance lately.

So today I bought this.

So surely now I can have one scoop more?