There is only one rule to making ice cream the Hijinx way… You’ve got to use their premade ice cream mix with some kind of liquid (milk is recommended, but water will do) and let it settle for about 30 minutes before putting it in the freezer. However, once that requirement has been met, the rest of the rules for family-friendly flavoring fly right out the window.
We’re talking chocolate, peanut butter, pumpkin bourbon, beer, Brussel sprouts, Cheetos, mac & cheese, pickle and wasabi, Carolina Reaper, Hawaiian pizza, and chitlins… but we’re getting a little carried away here, aren’t we? Well, actually we aren’t. With Hijinx, you can make ice cream out of practically anything that can be warmed in a saucer, blended, and won’t crawl out later (don’t get any ideas now).
The problem with traditional methods of making ice cream is that the cream needs to be frozen in layers so that it won’t just turn into a block of ice. This takes pre-planning, special equipment, and a good bit of elbow grease. Hijinx sidesteps tradition, enabling your blender and freezer to share all the dirty work, and all you have to do is pour, blend, wait several hours, and eat (enjoying is optional, depending on how palatable your imagination is).
What’s the secret? Nice try, but they aren’t going to tell you that. But for around $10 a bag, you can experiment with random flavor fetishes all you want. And as you can imagine, there is also a prank opportunity within some of these flavor monstrosities as well as a community of fellow ice cream freaks that share their ideas and creations with each other.
How it Works
Take your liquid and pour it into a blender. Open your bag of Hijinx mix and add it on top. Now you can raid your refrigerator, cupboards, and liquor cabinets. In most cases, it works best to warm the mix before blending. You can check out some of the recipes on the website for clues on how to make your wildest ideas edible. We tried their recipes for Pumpkin Bourbon and Pistachio Baklava, and they both turned out fantastic.
It probably took about 15 minutes to organize the ingredients, warm them, blend them, and wash the bowls. Another 30 minutes for the mixture to rest, and within 3 hours we had some soft serve ready to eat. Now I have made old-fashioned ice cream many times, and it does not get any easier than that (ever).
Our final products came out of the door soft and ready to eat, but in some cases, you may need to let it sit for 5 minutes. The magic is within the mix, I tell you, which allows any concoction to come out with a proper creamy texture. I don’t know how they do it, but it is definitely an entertaining science experiment. Just remember, if you mess up and get something unedible, it’s your own fault; but that’s part of the fun.
Get the basic ice cream mix here.
Premixed Flavors
Since we reviewed Hijinx, they have rolled out their own favoring packs for those who would rather skip the experimentation and just get right to the good stuff. What this amounts to is a ready-made vial of natural flavoring concentrate that you add to any Hijinx packet and boom, you’re ready to sit and freeze. And they’ve spent some time putting together a mix of some popular and unique flavors, including Cozy Eggnog, Mesquite Smoke, Irish Cream, Masala Chai, Wild Lavender, Pecan Turtle Clusters, Mild Habanero, and Chocolate Churro, among others.
And based on our own samples of these premixed vials, they hit the mark on ease, taste, and budget at $3.99 per pack (gift bundles also available). We found these flavors to be plenty strong, fairly spot on, and with a fun variety to choose from. This is certainly a great idea and we wish Hijinx some great success in the New Year.
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About Pamela Causfield
I'm a digital nomad and story teller that writes for Urbasm and a few other websites on men's interests, style, relationships and whatever tickles my fancy. In my spare time I like to play the field in search of my prince, travel, and consider myself an artisan of sarcasm at times.