Mike and I had some friends over for dessert one night and I wanted something different for dessert. I still had 2 vanilla beans left (time to buy more!) and I was wanting to use them! Mike loves ice-cream and I have an ice-cream maker but we haven't been impressed with the results from previous recipes. I'd never made a custard based ice-cream and I decided it was time to try it. We were all pleased with the results and we'll definitely be making this ice-cream again!You will need:
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 large egg yolks
1. In a medium saucepan, warm milk, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup of cream.
2. Using a sharp knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean and add them to the hot milk mixture, along with the vanilla pod.
3. Remove milk mixture from heat, cover, and let it steep for 30 minutes.
4. Re-warm the vanilla milk mixture.
5. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks. Add 1/8 cup of the milk mixture to the eggs and whisk until combined.
6. Pour yolk mixture into milk mixture.
7. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens.
8. Remove vanilla pod (rinse and wipe clean, you can re-use it!).
9. Stir remaining 1 cup of cream into custard to cool.
10. Chill thoroughly in fridge. (At least 3-5 hours, overnight is even better)
11. Churn ice-cream in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Mine took about 30 minutes.
12. Scoop ice-cream into freezer-safe container and freeze until ready to serve.
