Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

So yesterday was my Birthday. But being a Wednesday it wasn’t an ideal day to have people over for a BBQ or anything of the like. PLUS Eleanor had rather ingeniously signed me up to visit a culinary school and learn some chef knife skills. This was at Vaughan’s Kitchen in Devizes, about a 40 minute drive from where we live in Salisbury. The evening was absolutely fantastic and food prep for me will never be the same again.

But I digress. The reason I wanted to post today was because of an epic ice cream win. On Sunday we were entertaining with a BBQ which meant Sunday morning and early afternoon was spent prepping. After getting the meat and everything prepped, the home made condiments, salads and various dressings I decided I wanted to do two desserts. One was a Raspberry & White Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding which I unfortunately don’t have a photo of because it went so fast and the other, was to use a birthday present I received last year from my brother Dave, an ice cream maker, to make easily the best Vanilla Bean Ice Cream I have ever made.

It was beautiful. I know that’s a really poor way to describe food however, it really was! The recipe I had I had tried a couple of times and I kept finding the first few times that the results were a bit icy. So I read a few books and combined a few techniques and changed some of the ingredients round. I swapped the vanilla extract called for in the recipe with a Madagascan Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste which made the ice cream not only taste wonderful, it gave the appearance of vanilla beans in the finished product which to me, just emanated luxury.

The end product was the right viscosity, firm and soft all at the same time. Not too sweet yet sweet enough to make you want to dive in for seconds (and everyone did). The glossy appearance of the vanilla bean ice cream just gave the impression of something taken straight of a gelateria in Rome and so I was really really pleased. Epic win as far as I’m concerned. On a side note I must apologise for not cleaning off the bowl before I took the photo. It was my first bowl and everyone was diving in for seconds and it was a case of be quick or lose out 😀 The Raspberry & White Chocolate Bread & Butter pudding will make an appearance on here soon because it is absolutely to die for!

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Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

This is a beautiful, glossy vanilla bean ice cream recipe. It is creamy sweet goodness that will have anyone going back for more, and more, and more! This is a great base recipe to start adding more flavours.

Course Ice Cream

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Servings 1 litre

Author Steve @ This Guy Cooks

Ingredients

• 300 ml whole milk chilled
• 300 ml double cream chilled
• 1 tbsp Nielson Massey Vanilla Bean Paste
• 80 g caster sugar
• 3 large egg yolks.

Instructions

1. Pour the Vanilla Bean Paste and whole milk into a heavy based saucepan.
2. Bring to the boil whilst using a whisk to stir.
3. Remove from heat for 20 minutes to cool and continue to stir every 5 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and beat until well mixed.
5. Add the milk/vanilla mix to the eggs again using a whisk to stir.
6. Cook over a low heat until the custard thickens stirring with a wooden spoon. You will know the custard is ready when the mixture coats the back of the spoon. Do not heat too quickly or allow to boil or the eggs in the custard will curdle and it will be useless.
7. When thickened place the custard in a clean bowl and allow to cool. I place mine into the sink with cold water and ice to help speed the process up. Cover the bowl with cling film to prevent a skin forming whilst it cools.
8. When the custard has chilled well, mix in cream.
9. Pour the mixture in an ice cream machine and follow the instructions for your ice cream maker until its ready.
10. You can serve this as soon its finished. It will have a "mr whippy" texture to it. I prefer to put it in the freezer until its ready.

Happy cooking!