Anyone who knows me knows that ice cream is a big part of my life. So it's a wonder that it's taken so long for me to try making homemade ice cream.

Last week I finally made the plunge and ordered this fancy ice cream maker. For my first attempt I decided to keep it simple and just make vanilla, Apartment Therapy's been talking about ice cream all summer so I used one of their basic custardy vanillas.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions
Beat milk and eggs together in a large saucepan. Add sugar and vanilla bean or vanilla extract, and cook over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until slightly thickened and registering 170° F on a thermometer. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove hull of the vanilla bean, if using, and stir in cream. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl and cover surface directly with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. The mixture will not be completely hard. To finish freezing, put mixture into a lidded container, cover and allow to harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes 1 quart or about 8 servings







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Not pictured: the sugar, cause I forgot that ice cream has sugar?

I doubled (tripled?) the vanilla, cause I like vanilla. And instead of refrigerating for hours before the mixing step I simply put it in the freezer for half an hour. It turned out really well, sort of sweet and custardy (guess that was the point though). I liked it a lot but I have a feeling there's a better vanilla recipe out there to be had. Still, really exciting to make my own ice cream.

I'm hooked.

Labels: icecream, snappy