15 min
25 min
Easy recipe to do, just have an ice cream maker handy. About 15 minutes to prepare the ice cream mixture and 25 minutes in the ice cream maker.
- Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape the vanilla bean with the edge of your knife and put the vanilla bean and the pods in a pot.
- Add in the milk, cream, sugar and salt and cook for about 10 minuetes on low heat so the vanilla flavour absorbs into the mixture.
- Mix the 4 egg yolks and add to the mixture and combine well with a whisk.
- Increase the heat to low-medium heat and stir constantly. Ensure the mixture doesn't boil and you'll want to cook for about 5 minutes until the mixture becomes creamier where it will stick to the back of a spoon. You want to make sure the egg doesn't start to curdle.
- Pour the mixture through a sieve and into a bowl, seal it and place in the fridge for about 4 to 5 hours
- Once the mixture has cooled in the fridge, you can put in your ice cream maker and depending on the ice cream machine you have, you can prepare it for 25 to 35 minutes.
- Once your ice cream is finished, you can store in containers and freeze it or serve it ready.
You can adjust the number of egg yolks to use in this recipe and you can use none as well. If you don't use any, the ice cream will be less creamy as a result. If you don't use any eggs, then you'll want to cook the mixture a bit longer to try to thicken it up as much as possible. If you don't use any egg yolks then you can compensate by using a heavier cream to help thicken up the ice cream. In terms of milk, you can use skim milk or 1 or 2%. The more fat you use, the more flavour it will have. You can also choose which cream to use which can adjust the fat and cholesterol content for those that watch it. This recipe calls for 2/3 cup of sugar but you could also cut it down to 1/3 of a cup. Try avoiding vanilla extract, it might be easier to use than vanilla bean but real vanilla bean has so much more flavour than the extract. Once you try the real deal, you won't want to touch extract ever again. This recipe also calls for 2 vanilla pods, you can choose to use 1 if you prefer a more subtle vanilla flavour.