Our New Favorite Small Kitchen Appliance and Whey "Ice Cream" Recipe

Last year Papaw got us an Instant Pot 7 in 1 Electric Pressure Cooker.

It has taken us a while to warm up to it and I'll be the first to admit we have not explored all of its wonderful functions.

I can assure you it is an awesome rice cooker.
Measure your rice, add the right amount of water, hit the rice button and walk away.
Easy Peasy!

It really couldn't be any easier to cook dry beans, you don't even have to soak them overnight!
Just add your beans, set the timer and it will beep when its done! I realize that all pressure cookers have the ability to cook beans really quickly, but knowing that and actually doing it are two completely different creatures. I always had the intention of using our large pressure cooker for fast cooking, but in reality its size and the fact that it needed babysitting prevented me from ever using it for cooking. Those days are over! With the Instant Pot, I don't have to worry at all. I just put in the beans and liquid, adjust the time for the bean and walk away. No babysitting necessary!

We've also used the slow cooker function coupled with the saute function. I love the fact that I don't need a separate pan for browning. I can just start out the Instant Pot on the saute function to brown any meat I'm using and then pop on over to the slow cooker to finish up.

But what I'm really here to tell you about today all started a few weeks ago when we started using another function, The Yogurt Button!

For a few years now, we've been getting our yogurt at our local Indian and Pakistani grocery, Suvidha Indo-Pak. We love this place. Their spice selection is phenomenal. They have great deals on produce. Their freezers and aisles are full of quick tasty Indian dishes! Seriously if you have one nearby, you should treat yourself to a field trip! Be forewarned, the location in Kennesaw is REALLY small and cramped but it is sooooo worth it!

So anyway, back to the yogurt.
The yogurt at Suvidha comes in 5 lb tubs and is lacking in ookey ingredients like pectin and gelatin and guar gum. Seriously people these are things that are not suppose to be in yogurt!
Even though we love the Indian yogurt, we were anxious to try our hand at making our own, using milk from a local farmer.

It took a few attempts to find the perfect combination, but finally we have achieved success!

Our Instant Pot Yogurt

1. Put milk in Instant Pot (we usually use 1/2 gallon)
2. Hit Yogurt Button
3. Adjust to boil and wait for Instant pot to beep
4. Wait for the temperature of the boiled milk to come down to 110 degrees F
5. Add starter - 2 Tablespoons per quart of milk (you can either use plain yogurt as a starter or whey       leftover from a previous batch)
6. Hit the yogurt button again and adjust the time for 14 hours
7. Chill yogurt in refrigerator for a couple of hours
8. Filter yogurt through strainer if needed, to remove excess whey

Notes on yogurt: I have found it is best to leave steam vent in open position and not to stir in the starter when adding to the heated milk.

Voila! yummy homemade yogurt!

Even though it might look a bit daunting, hands on time is pretty low.
Maybe 15 minutes all told.

We have a new weekly habit that has produced yummy homemade yogurt using milk from a happy pastured cow, and lots of whey.

There are tons of ways to integrate using extra whey into cooking. In our house, we are limited by our little one's food allergies. Which means all of those lovely ideas for main dishes, or side dishes, or baking are pretty much out.

But all is not lost, DH LOVES ice cream. When I say love I mean, if there is a carton in the house that he likes, it might survive the day, but probably not two. He will have it before breakfast, as breakfast, as lunch, before dinner and probably after dinner as well. Pretty much anytime he walks into the kitchen you will hear the freezer drawer open. Obviously, I needed to try to make whey ice cream right? Not as easy as you might think. When I went looking for a recipe, they all wanted whey protein. Eww, I just want to use the whey I have on hand not buy more! So I hmmed and hawed and fudge a bit of a recipe together.

Guess What? It was delicious!
Thus was born.

What To Do With Extra Whey Ice Cream

Ingredients:

3 cups whey from strained yogurt divided
1 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat 1 cup of whey with 1 cup of sugar over medium heat in a medium sauce pot
Stir regularly until sugar is dissolved
Remove from heat
Beat egg yolks in a separate bowl until pale yellow and frothy
Stir 1/2 cup heated milk mixture into beaten eggs
Add milk egg mixture back into pot and stir to combine
Return pot to stove over medium low heat
Whisk constantly until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon, about 170 degrees F
Strain through fine mesh sieve into a bowl
Add remaining 2 cups of whey and 2 teaspoons of vanilla
Bring to room temperature
Cover and chill to 40 degrees F
Churn chilled mixture in ice cream machine
Serve directly from machine for soft serve
Freeze for several hours for a firmer texture

The flavor of this "ice cream" is Ah Ma Zing! The sourness of the whey combined with the sweetness of the sugar leaves behind a flavor reminiscent of a great cheesecake!

This recipe produces crystalline feel ice cream, which I love, but DH not so much.
I might try using honey next time to see how it effects the texture.

The credit for this idea lies partially with America's Test Kitchen, they reminded me how easy it is to make ice cream with our Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.

We will definitely do this again, and I'm so happy to have found a way to use our extra whey!

PS - If you use FaceBook and have an Instant Pot, or are thinking of getting one, you should totally join the Instant Pot FaceBook Community. The posts there are truly inspirational!