Rescue Overly Frozen Ice Cream With An Unexpected Kitchen Tool

I scream, you scream, we all scream ... when our ice cream is so rock-hard it somehow bends our scoopers in half. Ice cream can become overly frozen especially when it hangs out in the freezer for a long time. As it sits in those low temperatures, ice cream's water molecules evaporates and freezes into ice crystals. If you've got time, there are some effective tips for softening ice cream, like letting it thaw in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or so. But there are plenty of circumstances where you need faster results. 

Maybe you're serving dessert at your dinner party and opting for Ina Garten's genius vanilla ice cream with limoncello and biscotti. Maybe you're layering your favorite flavors up to make an ice cream cake. Or maybe, you or your kids are just impatient for that cool, sweet treat. You can hear the siren call of the microwave, but resist it, as it yields uneven results with some parts too soupy and others gritty with reformed ice crystals. Something else in your kitchen is just as convenient, almost just as fast, and promises the texture you dream about: your stand mixer.

First, let the ice cream sit out of the freezer for a few minutes, just until you can get it out of the container. Pop it into your stand mixer's bowl and, with the paddle attachment, mix it on medium just until you see it's once again smooth and creamy — tada, revitalized ice cream.

The stand mixer is effective in re-softening overly frozen ice cream for the same reason it works when making ice cream in the first place: It evenly churns and aerates. That air helps created a more whipped consistency, and the churning motion breaks up ice crystals. Instead of crunchy ice here and too-melted liquid there, you get even spoonfuls of thick, creamy, smoothness. An added draw of using the stand mixer here is that you can effortlessly throw in some other ingredients, reinventing your ice cream's finished flavor at the same time as you're perfecting its texture. Get inspired by the best ingredients to elevate ice cream, like fresh fruit or fruit preserves, chopped nuts, crushed cookies, or pieces of cake.

If you don't have a stand mixer, fear not. While a hand mixer might not have enough power to really get in there and churn such cement-like dairy desserts, you can try a sharp trick to more quickly but evenly soften ice cream. Use a hot knife to score it, which exposes more of the ice cream's surface area and helps it melt with a bit more haste. You can also go one step further and fully cut the ice cream into big chunks, which would make it easier to soften by hand in a big bowl using a potato masher. You can still mix in different toppings here by calling on a good old fashioned wooden spoon.