I know. This could not get any more vanilla. Plain Jane. Milquetoast. Waspy.
But.
There is a reason you don’t see many ice cream posts on this blog (I think there may be one).
I do not have the ice cream juju.
Every summer, I set out to conquer the beast, and every summer I fail. Regardless of recipe, my attempts turn out chalky, overly rich and just plain sad. Oh, and expensive. Last summer’s attempt involved Sicilian pistachios and dozens of hand-pitted cherries. The result was inedible.
So this summer I decided to dial it back and start with crawling instead of toe picking. And it worked. The result was creamy, just sweet enough and perfect for topping a piece of peach pie.
So, I thought I’d share. In case I’m not the only remedial ice cream maker out there.
I don’t really have a recipe for the peach pie, but I live and die by this sour cream pie crust.
I know it’s supposed to be hot this holiday weekend, but speaking of toe picks.
Vanilla Ice Cream
New York Times (I swear I don’t get all of my recipes here)
Ingredients
- 2 C heavy cream
- 1 C whole milk
- 2/3 C sugar
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt (I had this on hand–if you don’t, just use kosher)
- 6 large egg yolks
Directions
- In a small pot, simmer heavy cream, milk, sugar and Salk until everything completely dissolves (about 5 minutes). Remove pot from heat.
- In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk-in about 1/3 of the hot cream to the yolk mixture. Then whisk the yolk mixture back into the remaining cream in the pot.
- Return the pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees).
- Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours (overnight is even better).
- Follow directions on your ice cream machine. Serve directly for soft-serve, store in freezer for a more ice cream like consistency.