Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

If there’s one flavor of ice cream everyone with an ice cream maker should make, it’s vanilla. It’s the most versatile flavor there is that serves as a base for additional flavors, mix ins, or just to enjoy as is. Here’s one of my favorite Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipes that I made…

I recently purchased a second ice cream freezer bowl for my ice cream maker (Cuisinart ICE-20) just so that I could have some homemade vanilla ice cream on hand at all times. It’s especially convenient during the summer months to make some great milkshakes to beat the heat! This ice cream is cooked first due to the use of egg yolks. The egg yolks really lend themselves to the creamy, rich texture… and for all those egg whites left over, put them to use in an omelette, pavlova or even meringues! If you can’t find vanilla beans for the recipe, the next best substitute I like is vanilla paste, namely Nielsen Massey brand. I served my ice cream with this Summer Berry Crisp…

1 cup whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste)
5 egg yolks
2 cup heavy cream
A few drops of vanilla extract

Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk.

Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping. Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.