Ice Cream

What if I told you that you could make ice cream that was creamier than anything you'd ever bought in a store, and that you could add whatever mixins you'd like. It's also dead simple.

I should start by saying that this is a cream-based ice-cream, as opposed to a custard-based ice cream. It means it's a litter easier to execute, but is slightly less creamy than it could be, but it's still really, really creamy. 

Start by taking 3 cups of heavy cream, 3/4 of a cup of sugar and a vanilla bean, and heat it in a sauce pan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. You don't want to boil the cream. To tell if it's dissolved, stir it, stick in your finger, and taste it to see if you get any sugar crystals. 

Put it all in a bowl and place it in the fridge for a couple of hours until everything is nice and cool.

A neat trick, if you don't have an ice cream maker is to pour the base into ice cube trays. Then blend it, and re-freeze into a container.

Next, mix up for favorite mix-in. In this case, I did chocolate chip cookie dough. The eggless variety. It's melted butter, brown sugar, flour, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Incidentally, both these recipes are adapted from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop. 

Mix everything together. If you have to, add a little flour to thicken it up, and pour out onto some plastic wrap.

Wrap it up and throw it in the fridge until it has set.

Cut the cookie dough into bite size chunks. These chunks, incidentally, should be smaller than the ones I indicate here.

Throw these in the freezer for later.

If the ice cream has cooled, take out the split vanilla bean and throw the base into your ice cream maker. And make the ice cream according to its specs.

When you take it out of the ice cream machine, add in the tasty mixins. Throw everything back in the freezer for a few hours, then serve.

Ingredients:

3 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

5 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips.

Procedure:

1. Combine the heavy cream, sugar, salt and vanilla bean in a saucepot over medium low heat. 

2. Stir regularly until the sugar is dissolved. It should just be a few minutes.

3. Transfer the ice cream base to a bowl and chill in the refrigerator.

4. Mix all the other ingredients in a separate bowl, adding flour if needed to thicken the dough.

5. Turn the dough out on plastic wrap, and chill until set.

6. Cut the dough into bite size chunks and freeze until ready to use.

7. Make the ice cream according to the directions of your ice cream maker. When the ice cream maker has finished, remove the ice cream and add the mixins. Place everything in the freezer until you're ready to serve.

Comments

[Missy Tasker]

All of these recipes look absolutely delicious! I've never made my own jam, but after looking at this recipe and the pictures I can't wait! I love how colorful and clear all of the pictures are. This whole site makes cooking look easy, and that's no easy task. I can't wait to share this site with my friends.