April 13, 2011
“Van Winkle “- Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream I’m a creature of habit and tend to make the same thing for breakfast almost every morning.  Egg whites and a bowl of some sort of hot cereal.  Now you may ask, what do you do with the egg yolks?  Well folks, those egg yolks never go to waste.  This week I decided to put my yolks to good use by making a fresh batch of vanilla bean ice cream. This was my first attempt at making homemade ice cream without a ice cream maker and it was quite successful.  I had the time and patience to act as my own ice cream machine, so it worked out perfectly.  I’m pretty sure I’ll never go back to buying store-bought ice cream ever again. Now, all I need are new flavor suggestions! What You Need (Makes 1 pint): 2 Cups Half & Half  1 Tbsp. Vanilla Bean Paste (I buy mine from Sur La Table) 2/3 Cup Sugar 5 Egg Yolks Cinnamon (to garnish) 1. In a small bowl combine the egg yolks and sugar.  Whisk until well blended and a pale yellow color.  Set aside. 2. Meanwhile, pour the half & half into a sauce pan over medium heat.  Just as you start to see little bubbles around the edges, remove the milk from the heat. 3. Now, temper the eggs and milk.  Do this by pour a little milk into the egg mixture, whisking all the while.  Continue to do this until about half of the milk is blended into the egg mixture.  Once you have reached this point, pour the egg mixture back into the rest of the milk.  Continue to stir with a rubber spatula. 4.  Place the pot back on the heat and lower the flame to low-medium.  Continue to stir the mixture, removing from heat every now and then, until the mixture reaches the nappe stage.  You will know when it reaches this stage when you take the some of the custard mixture on the rubber spatula.  Run your finger down the middle of the spatula and the mixture leaves a clear crevice, without the mixture running back together, the custard is ready.  It may take about 15 minutes to reach this stage. (REMEMBER TO KEEP STIRRING THE ENTIRE TIME- or you’ll end up with sweet scrambled eggs) 5. Strain the mixture and pour into a shallow dish.  Stir in the vanilla bean paste.  Cover the dish and place in the freezer.  Every 30 minutes, go back and stir the ice cream very well.  Should take about 2-3 hours for the ice cream to be ready.  *The ice cream will be very creamy the first day and will taste the best.  But, if you need to leave it in the freezer, just make sure you thaw it just a bit before serving. **This is a basic flavor, you can add anything you want to make your own ice cream creations!

“Van Winkle “- Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I’m a creature of habit and tend to make the same thing for breakfast almost every morning.  Egg whites and a bowl of some sort of hot cereal.  Now you may ask, what do you do with the egg yolks?  Well folks, those egg yolks never go to waste.  This week I decided to put my yolks to good use by making a fresh batch of vanilla bean ice cream.

This was my first attempt at making homemade ice cream without a ice cream maker and it was quite successful.  I had the time and patience to act as my own ice cream machine, so it worked out perfectly.  I’m pretty sure I’ll never go back to buying store-bought ice cream ever again.

Now, all I need are new flavor suggestions!

What You Need (Makes 1 pint):

2 Cups Half & Half

 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Bean Paste (I buy mine from Sur La Table)

2/3 Cup Sugar

5 Egg Yolks

Cinnamon (to garnish)

1. In a small bowl combine the egg yolks and sugar.  Whisk until well blended and a pale yellow color.  Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, pour the half & half into a sauce pan over medium heat.  Just as you start to see little bubbles around the edges, remove the milk from the heat.

3. Now, temper the eggs and milk.  Do this by pour a little milk into the egg mixture, whisking all the while.  Continue to do this until about half of the milk is blended into the egg mixture.  Once you have reached this point, pour the egg mixture back into the rest of the milk.  Continue to stir with a rubber spatula.

4.  Place the pot back on the heat and lower the flame to low-medium.  Continue to stir the mixture, removing from heat every now and then, until the mixture reaches the nappe stage.  You will know when it reaches this stage when you take the some of the custard mixture on the rubber spatula.  Run your finger down the middle of the spatula and the mixture leaves a clear crevice, without the mixture running back together, the custard is ready.  It may take about 15 minutes to reach this stage. (REMEMBER TO KEEP STIRRING THE ENTIRE TIME- or you’ll end up with sweet scrambled eggs)

5. Strain the mixture and pour into a shallow dish.  Stir in the vanilla bean paste.  Cover the dish and place in the freezer.  Every 30 minutes, go back and stir the ice cream very well.  Should take about 2-3 hours for the ice cream to be ready. 

*The ice cream will be very creamy the first day and will taste the best.  But, if you need to leave it in the freezer, just make sure you thaw it just a bit before serving.

**This is a basic flavor, you can add anything you want to make your own ice cream creations!

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