Ten homemade ice cream flavours.

Three ice cream machines, two borrowed, one my own.

One freezer. One cook.

One birthday girl.

Happy tasters: too many to count!

Hosting an ice cream party for a large crowd demands careful planning and a pinch of lunacy. Freezer space is helpful. A sick dog ( after accidentally consuming a pound of hamburger meat at the dog sitter) is not.

Sorry you missed the party, Lucy.

I haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t love a scoop of something cold, creamy and sweet but beyond that, there is no clear favourite. Some love fruit sorbets, others chocolate and caramel. There is always one vanilla bean lover.

Picking out the flavours was a family affair of testing and eliminating.

Nobody complained about that chore.

Here’s one of the flavours we served up: the recipe was adapted from the recipe booklet tucked into the ice cream machine box from Cuisinart.

 Mango Gelato

What you need:

1 1/2 lbs cubes mango ( thawed, if frozen)

1/2 cup mango nectar

2 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup skim powdered milk

8 large egg yolks

1 cup half and half cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

What you do:

1. Place mango cubes in food processor and blend until completely smooth, ending up with about 2 1/2 cups mango purée.
2. Stir in mango nectar and refrigerate.
3. Heat milk, sugar and powdered milk in medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Keep warm over low heat.
4. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl and mix with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes until thickened.
5. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot milk/sugar mixture while continuing to whisk.
6. Stir the egg mixture back into the saucepan and increase heat to medium.
7. Stir for another 4 or 5 minutes with a wooden spoon until the mixture is thickened like a custard sauce and registers 180 F on a instant read thermometer.
8. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl.
9. Stir in cream, mango purée and vanilla.
10. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours.
11. Pour mixture into freezer bowl of ice cream machine and mix until thickened, about 20/25 minutes for a soft, creamy texture. If firmer texture needed, transfer the gelato to an airtight container and place in freezer for another 2 hours.
12. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.