Vanilla Ice Cream

 I’m finally using my ice cream maker attachment!  I got the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas and I finally decided to break it out and give it a try.  I know I’ve only had the attachment for almost 9 months but I’ve just had so much going on that I haven’t really had the chance to use it. 

I’m usually a big ice cream eater no matter what season, but for some reason I didn’t eat a lot of ice cream during the winter so I never got it out.  Now that we’re in the dead of summer, it’s definitely time for some ice cream.  I was so excited when I got the ice cream attachment and I was just as excited to get it out and use it yesterday. 

I have seen tons of different ice cream recipes that I want to try, so now that I’ve finally gotten it out I’m sure I’ll be making quite a bit of ice cream.  Since this was my first time making homemade ice cream, I decided to keep it simple.  The first kind of ice cream I made was vanilla, you just really can’t go wrong with homemade vanilla ice cream! 

I have heard tons of wonderful things about the recipes from David Lebovitz.  When I started broke out my ice cream maker I knew that I wanted to use one of his recipes so it was a no-fail first attempt.  His directions were so easy to follow.  I’m so happy that I went with this recipe because it was definitely everything I expected and then some.   

 Vanilla Ice Cream
 
About 1 quart (1l)
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop (Ten Speed Press)

Ingredients:
 

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

 
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

 
2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

 
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

 
4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

 
5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Recipe Source: David Lebovitz