Vanilla Ice Cream

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

  1. In a small pot, simmer heavy cream, milk, sugar and Salk until everything completely dissolves (about 5 minutes). Remove pot from heat.
  2. 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.
  3. 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).
  4. 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).
  5. Follow directions on your ice cream machine.  Serve directly for soft-serve, store in freezer for a more ice cream like consistency.

 

 

 

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