Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream

This ice cream, well it’s become my new favorite vanilla ice cream.  Doesn’t it look amazing?!  It uses 9 egg yolks – thus the gorgeous light yellow color and amazing creamy texture.  And it’s the perfect thing to make with all those leftover egg yolks when you’re making an angel food cake or a gluten free angel food cake.

Also, despite the long-winded post, it’s actually quite easy – just read through once completely before starting!

And be sure to get your timer out for this recipe, especially if you’ve never made a base for ice cream before, as this will help you a great deal until you learn what it’s suppose to look like.  You’ll also need an ice cream machine for this particular recipe.

If you don’t have an ice cream machine, I strongly encourage you to make this anyway.  You can use it for an amazing warm (or cold) vanilla sauce to top fruit or cake.

Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream Adapted from The Busy Mom’s Cookbook

4 cups heavy cream

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

9 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups sugar

Add-ins (optional): crushed Oreo cookies, M&M’s, frozen brownie chunks, etc.

In a large pot, heat the cream and vanilla on medium heat (I set my gas burner in between 5 & 6).  Whisk occasionally, for about 5 minutes just to heat it up.

In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large heat-proof bowl for about 5 minutes, or until they’re lighter in color.

When the cream is steaming, but not boiling, pour a large ladle of heated cream into the egg yolk mixture and whisk immediately to temper the eggs (bringing them to the same temperature as the cream without scrambling them).  Add another large ladle of heated cream, and whisk immediately again.  Add one more large ladle and repeat.

Then pour the tempered egg yolk mixture into the pot of remaining heated heavy cream, whisking the entire time.  Grab a wooden spoon and continue to stir the custard for 5 minutes – set your timer!

The custard will go from watery and frothy to slightly thickened with no frothy bubbles in about 4 – 5 minutes.  As soon as it starts to slightly coat the back of your spoon (it will still be translucent) take it off the heat and pour it through a sieve (to catch all the chewy pieces) into a food storage container.

Let it cool on at room temperature for about 30 minutes to reduce sweating in the refrigerator.  Then set the container in the refrigerator with a paper towel over it, or a lid if you don’t mind any sweating.  Let set overnight before churning in an ice cream maker.

When ready, pour the base into an ice cream machine and turn on low for about 15 minutes, or follow the instructions given by your particular ice cream machine.

In the last few minutes, pour in any add-ins, if desired.  Scoop into a food storage container and place in the freezer.