Most of the time when we make ice cream, we just use raw milk and a tiny bit of sugar (1/4 c. sucanat or maple syrup) per batch. It’s fast, easy, and about as healthy as ice cream can get.
The thing is, though, it’s not a true ice cream. There’s not enough cream in it and the “bite” is wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it. But every now and then I want to splurge on a real ice cream.
I made this one for my boys’ birthday celebration recently. It is so rich and creamy and perfect. I served it with a gluten-free white cake (which was filled with dark chocolate mousse and frosted with real buttercream) and it was the perfect dessert. I can’t call it healthy, because, well, it’s dessert. But it’s a lot better than the store-bought stuff since it’s made from real, whole ingredients!
Custard-Style Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- 4 c. heavy cream (preferably grass-fed)
- 1 1/4 c. organic cane sugar, divided (buy here)
- 6 egg yolks
- 3 vanilla beans (buy here)
Directions:
Step 1: Pour the cream into a medium saucepan, and add 1 c. of sugar to this.
Step 2: Turn this mixture on low heat — very low. Add the vanilla beans, split open and caviar scraped out if you want. Let it for for 5 minutes or so.
Step 3: In the measuring cup you used for the cream (to save on dishes!), put 6 egg yolks. Use the whites for a different project (I used 2 for marshmallow cream and 4 for my GF cake). Add the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar to this. Whip this mixture until frothy and lightened in color.
Step 4: The cream mixture should be very warm now and the sugar should be dissolved. Pour a small amount of the cream into the eggs while whisking, in order to “temper” the mixture (raise the temperature slowly so you don’t cook the eggs).
Step 5: Whip the mixture until it’s warmed up, then pour the warm cream-egg mixture back into the pot of cream.
Step 6: Allow this mixture to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s thick and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, cool it, and place it in the fridge overnight or until it reaches 40 degrees. I kept my vanilla beans in it this whole time, removing them just before churning.
Step 7: Once the mixture is cool, remove the vanilla beans (or you can add 2 tsp. vanilla extract at this point if you prefer to use that). Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze for about 30 minutes. If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can use a mixer to whip the cream at this point.
Step 8: Once the ice cream is churned or whipped, transfer it to a glass dish and freeze it for a few hours to harden. Remove from the freezer 10 – 15 minutes before you want to serve it.
Custard-Style Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 4 c. heavy cream
- 1 1/4 c. organic cane sugar divided
- 6 egg yolks
- 3 vanilla beans
Instructions
- Pour the cream into a medium saucepan, and add 1 c. of sugar to this.
- Turn this mixture on low heat — very low. Add the vanilla beans, split open and caviar scraped out if you want. Let it for for 5 minutes or so.
- In the measuring cup you used for the cream (to save on dishes!), put 6 egg yolks. Use the whites for a different project (I used 2 for marshmallow cream and 4 for my GF cake). Add the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar to this. Whip this mixture until frothy and lightened in color.
- The cream mixture should be very warm now and the sugar should be dissolved. Pour a small amount of the cream into the eggs while whisking, in order to “temper” the mixture (raise the temperature slowly so you don’t cook the eggs).
- Whip the mixture until it’s warmed up, then pour the warm cream-egg mixture back into the pot of cream.
- Allow this mixture to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it’s thick and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, cool it, and place it in the fridge overnight or until it reaches 40 degrees. I kept my vanilla beans in it this whole time, removing them just before churning.
- Once the mixture is cool, remove the vanilla beans (or you can add 2 tsp. vanilla extract at this point if you prefer to use that). Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze for about 30 minutes. If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can use a mixer to whip the cream at this point.
- Once the ice cream is churned or whipped, transfer it to a glass dish and freeze it for a few hours to harden. Remove from the freezer 10 – 15 minutes before you want to serve it.
This ice cream looks delicious! Does this ice cream recipe get hard when frozen? If not, Is that due to the sugar or fat or both? If I use a sweetener such as stevia, will this get hard in the freezer?
Thanks!
Also, since this recipe is mostly cream could I whip it like whipped cream & then run through my ice cream maker? Would that make it more fluffy & less hard using the stevia?
You ice cream looks like ice cream like I remember from my younger days. Is there a way I can print it easily? Thanks
Unfortunately not — we’re working on this! You can copy and paste it onto a Word doc though to print if you don’t want all the images.
Yum! Do the eggs get hot enough to be safe for pregnancy? Or is it best to pasteurized them first?