Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream

I'm not quite back up to my fighting weight, writing-wise (writing weight?). I've been have trouble concentrating and keeping up my inspiration. The muses are fickle beings. I'm not super worried about word volume as I can pull off 5,000 word days when I need to, although my brain starts leaking out of my ear at the end of those marathon days. The best was my first NaNo, where I pulled out 18k in three days (3k the first, 5k the second, and 10k the third) but in the last few days of NaNo, your powers of writing tend to turn into something superhuman, and not only was that my very first but it was a plot that had been rattling around in my head for a long time, and I could see actually ending it in 50k words. I did, too-- 50,022 to be precise, and had an ending so sugary sweet that it would rot your teeth out.

That's the best part of NaNo, the marathons. You stop thinking and just start writing. I'm no planner, we all know this by now, so I don't write from an outline or have character sketches or anything other than a vague idea of how to start it off. If I'm lucky, I have some idea of how it should end. If I'm really lucky, I have a scene in my head that needs to happen somewhere in the middle. So when I'm writing at a clip of 1000-1200 words an hour, I'm not really thinking about where the story needs to go or what I need to add, I just let the story take me where it wants to go. At the end of that 10k day, I had created a whole mythology, written an entire scene from a squirrel's point of view, and added a new character that I had never consciously created.

I sound totally crazysauce right now, huh?

The hardest part is really finding a plot that'll keep me inspired and interested throughout the whole ordeal. I lucked out with the Cheese Man. Maybe I should just write a sequel.

In the meantime, here's an ice cream that's sure to help you find inspiration. I call it cinnamon roll ice cream, because it kind of tastes like cinnamon roll filling. I have a love of brown sugar and a love of cinnamon and I don't know why it took me this long to put them together into ice cream.

This also happens to be the absolute easiest ice cream that I've ever made. No cooking, no tempering eggs, and only minimum chilling required. Add to the ice cream maker, and ta da! Plus, holyohmigoodness is it tasty. I could just drink the base, to tell the truth.

If you can't find cinnamon chips, increase the ground cinnamon to 2-3 tsp. or to taste. Or, just make brown sugar ice cream, because that's the best part. And then write a novel in 50,000 words.

Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream {Printable Version}

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup whole milk (or light cream)

¾ cup dark brown sugar

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ cup cinnamon chips

Directions

In a mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients except the cinnamon chip until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until fully chilled. Add to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream is a few minutes from being done, mix in the cinnamon chips. Freeze in an air-tight container.

Recipe by Kim

P.S. If anyone would like, I have an excerpt of the aforementioned Cheese Man novel that I've been polishing for contests. I'd like to get some feedback from someone who doesn't know the rest of the story.

This recipe is featured on http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com  Linky Party