I know it's winter now here Down Under and you must be crazy to think I am still churning ice cream. I am not crazy, I just feel everyone should have a good tub of quality luscious vanilla ice cream in their freezer at all times. You reckon so?
See, my logic is that vanilla ice cream is fairly essential for serving with a whole range of desserts and is definitely more than just a garnish. Use it over flourless cake or fruit tart and even with chocolate pudding, they just seem to taste better. I love how my comfort desserts are warm and is served with a generous scoop of ice cream, just like my apple crumble. Vanilla flavoured ones are the best because it is classical, not overpowering and ended up being the star of your dessert instead.
This recipe uses whole eggs and I like it that way because sometimes I have too much leftover egg whites that I almost don't know what to make with it! Including this one, I will have 3 types of vanilla ice cream in my repertoire, eggless (this is known as Philadelphia Style Ice Cream), with whole eggs(which is this Tessa Kiros's recipe) and just egg yolks (this is known as French Vanilla Ice Cream and I will post it later).
Vanilla Ice Cream3 eggs
1/2 cup superfine sugar (I use just 6 tbsp and it is perfect if you wanna use it to pair desserts)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Put the milk in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a teaspoon, and throw the bean in, too. Heat gently so that the vanilla bean and seeds flavor the milk. Just before the milk comes to a boil, remove it from the heat, and whisk a ladleful into the eggs to acclimatize them. Whisk in another ladleful and then tip the whole lot back into the saucepan with the milk. Put it over the lowest possible heat and cook for a minute or so, whisking all the time, just so that the eggs cooked through.Remove from the heat, whisk in the cream, and pour into a bowl or container that has a lid. Leave to cool completely, whisking now and then while it cools so you get the maximum flavour from the vanilla bean.
Remove the vanilla bean and rinse and dry it for another use. I always pop it into my sugar jar. It smells beautiful and you just need to keep topping it up with more sugar and shake it before scooping out the sugar to use.
Put the lid on the bowl and put it in the freezer.After an hour give the mixture an energetic whisk with a hand whisk or an electric mixer. Put it back in the freezer and whisk again after another couple of hours. When the ice cream is nearly firm, give one last whisk and put it back in
the freezer to set.
Alternatively, pour into your ice cream machine and churn, following the manufacturer's instructions.
Makes 5 cups
