Making ice cream, part 2: vanilla bean ice cream recipe

The first rule of making ice cream: have fun. Be creative. And if it doesn’t work out, that is okay. That is part of the learning process.

One way to flavor ice cream is with infusing. Ingredients are added to the dairy. The dairy mixture is then heated at a medium to medium high heat to release flavors into the dairy. This is similar to the way tea is steeped in hot water. The great thing about infusing is that you can make a variety of ice cream flavors with this method. Below is a vanilla bean ice cream recipe.

To make other flavors simply omit the vanilla beans and replace with desired ingredient. You can try to make flavors such mint with fresh mint leaves, or coffee using coffee grinds.

Recipe yields about 1 1/4 quart ice cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean

3/4 cup of sugar
6 large egg yolks
a pinch of salt

1. Pour dairy into a medium saucepan or pot (a 2-quart saucepan should do). Scrape the vanilla beans and place in pot on medium to medium high heat until dairy start to boil.

2. Mix egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a second bowl, whisking until pale yellow.

3. Slowly add the heated cream into the egg mixture, whisking together at the same time. (This technique is called tempering.) The continual whisking prevents the egg yolks from being cooked by the heated dairy.

4. Bring mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat. With a spatula (or wooden spoon) continue stirring the pot, scraping the bottom of the pot. Cook until the mixture thickens enough to coat the spatula. (If the ice cream base starts to curdle, and the base has not yet thickened, lower the heat.)

5. Strain and chill overnight.

6. Spin ice cream according to the instructions of the ice cream machine. When finished, place in an air tight containter and freeze for at least two hours or until set.

Variations: For coffee ice cream, omit the vanilla and add ½ cup of ground coffee beans. For cinnamon ice cream, omit vanilla and replace with one or two small cinnamon sticks, broken up.

Need an ice cream machine?

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