Vanilla Ice Cream

During the summer nothing sounds better than a cold cup of ice cream after a long day at the beach. In my town there are only two ice cream shops, which become boring after a while.  Instead of going to the same ice cream shop again, I decided to make my own vanilla ice cream. A few years back my mom bought a Cuisinart ice cream machine, which came with a recipe booklet with a recipe for vanilla ice cream. I followed the recipe and it came out fantastic! It tasted like it came from the shop, but in reality it was homemade. I hope you enjoy this vanilla ice cream recipe as much as I did!

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

A pinch of salt

1 whole vanilla bean, halved and beans scraped out

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a saucepan set over medium-low heat, whisk together the milk, cream, half the sugar, salt, and scraped vanilla bean (and the pod). Bring this mixture to a boil.

In a bowl mix the egg yolks and remaining sugar together until pale and thick.

When the cream mixture is at a slight boil add about 1/3 of the cream mixture to the egg mixture and whisk together. Once combined add the tempered egg mixture to the saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens and can coat the back of a wooden spoon. The mixture must NOT boil or else the yolks will over cook and possibly scramble. 

If you want to get rid of the vanilla beans strain the ice cream through a strainer. Then, pour the mixture into a bowl and bring to room temperature. 

Add the vanilla extract and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Once cool pour the mixture into the ice cream machine. Then, freeze the ice cream for 1-2 hours to harden.

Serve and enjoy!