French Vanilla Ice Cream
If you like your ice cream extra creamy, with a double dose of vanilla, then this French Vanilla Ice Cream is for you!
Servings: 1 litre
Equipment
- 1 Ice cream machine -I use either my Cuisinart or an attachment for my KitchenAid mixer
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Full fat milk
- 1½ cups Cream
- 5 Egg yolks save the egg whites to make meringues
- 150 g Sugar
- 1 Vanilla bean split and scraped
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare your ice cream machine the day before, by freezing your bowl/canister for 24 hours
- Prepare a large bowl (or sink) with ice. We will use this to stop the custard from cooking, by quickly reducing the temperature of the ice cream mixture.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, cream and vanilla bean. Stir occasionally, until it just comes to a boil, then remove from heat
- Meanwhile, use a balloon whisk to whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy
- Tempering the eggs: continue whisking the egg and sugar, while slowly adding ⅓ of the hot milk mixture. Whisk until fully combined, then slowly add another ⅓
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan containing the last ⅓ of milk mixture (wipe out the bowl to use later)
- With the saucepan over low heat, use a spatula to stir the mixture constantly until thickened. It should be thick enough to coat the back of your spatula
- Place a fine mesh sieve over your cleaned bowl, then pour the mixture into the sieve, scraping the mixture through. Discard the vanilla bean
- Stir through the vanilla extract
- Place the bowl into your ice bath, being careful not to let any ice into the mixture. You can add a little water to the ice bath if needed
- Whisk the ice cream until the mixture has cooled to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day, churn the ice cream in your machine, according to manufacturer's instructions. Mine takes about 20 minutes to thicken
- Eat as a soft serve straight away, or freeze for 2 hours
Notes
- ice cream canister must be frozen 24 hours before making ice cream
- prepare your ice bath before starting your custard
- make sure you store your ice cream in a sealed container
- homemade ice cream will last 2-3 months in the freezer
- take your ice cream out of the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving