Recipe 13: Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

March 16, 2015

            This is a great Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe.  It’s smooth and flavorful but doesn’t suffer from that weird over-extract taste that some vanilla bean ice creams do.  It is, as I can attest, wonderful with both pie and floats.  Perfect flavor, perfect texture – a perfect recipe.  You’re all in for a treat.

            The following recipe comes from Scoop Adventures, Lindsay Clendaniel’s ice cream web site that I referenced in the last blog post for Banana Pudding Ice Cream.  It is titled, appropriately enough, Best Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and can be found here.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 ¾ cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 8” vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (Madagascar vanilla)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 

Directions

1. In a small bowl, make a slurry by mixing 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch.  Set aside.
2. Combine the remaining milk with heavy cream, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a large saucepan.  Bring milk mixture to a boil.  Cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves – about 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened (draw a line on a spoon) – about 1 minute.  Carefully remove the vanilla bean.
4. Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into a medium bowl.  Whisk in the salt.  Let cool, stirring occasionally, until cold.  Cover and put in the fridge.  Chill overnight.
5. Once chilled, pour ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Pack the ice cream into a plastic container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours.

            This ice cream will go great with anything – pie, fruit crisps, cake, soda, anything – and could be easily mixed with different sauces and fruits.  As summer nears, I’m going to keep this one handy and I suggest you do too.  Enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: overnight
• Ice cream set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: creamy with a strong but not overpowering taste of vanilla – extremely good paired with pie and fruit
• Difficulty level: low to medium
• Expense level: low to medium
• Makes: 4 cups (1 quart)