Description
This homemade French vanilla ice cream is rich, sweet, and creamy. It’s just as good used as a base for delicious sundaes and milkshakes, or as eaten as is, piling scoops on a cone or into a bowl!
Ingredients
Scale
- 150 g granulated sugar (¾ cup)
- 35 g skim milk powder (¼ cup)
- 300 ml whole milk (1 ¼ cups)
- 360 ml heavy cream (1 ½ cups)
- 5 egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare the custard. In a medium heavy-based saucepan, combine the sugar, skim milk powder, milk, and cream. Whisk until smooth and the skim milk powder is wholly dissolved. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Bring to just below a boil, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Then remove the saucepan from the heat. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks for 2 min until they lighten. While whisking constantly, slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the mixing bowl. It’s essential not to pour all of the milk at once so the yolks don’t get too hot too quickly and you don’t end up with scrambled eggs. So be patient. Mix well until completely combined.
- Cook the custard. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir constantly with the whisk, ensuring that you scrape the bottom of the saucepan as you stir. Cook and stir until the custard reaches 80°C (175°F), about 5 to 10 min. For a more accurate reading, I prefer to check the temperature with the pan off the heat, after having whisked the custard well. Check the temperature in several places in case your saucepan has hot spots. Be careful with the temperature and never leave the custard unattended. If it gets too hot, the egg yolks will form clumps, or the custard might curdle. The custard should coat the back of a spoon, but it shouldn’t be as thick as pastry cream or curd. Aim for the consistency of single cream. Stir a spoon into the custard and immediately trace a line across the back of the spoon with a finger. It should leave a clear trace, as the line should remain visible. It means your custard is thick enough and ready.
- Let the custard cool down. Pour the custard through a mesh strainer into a clean medium-sized mixing bowl or plastic container. Whisk in the extract. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the custard, and let stand until the bowl reaches room temperature. This can take up to 1 h. If you want to speed things up, you can fill a larger bowl a third of the way with cold water and add a big handful of ice cubes. Gently lower the bowl/container with the custard into the ice bath bowl (be careful that no water from the ice bath flows or splashes into the custard while doing so). The custard will cool down to room temperature much more quickly.
- Chill and churn. Refrigerate the custard until it is thoroughly cold, about 4 hours (or leave it overnight in the fridge if it works better for you). Transfer the cooled custard to an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a container that has a tight-fitting lid and cover the ice cream with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto its surface. Close the lid and freeze the ice cream until firm, about 4 to 8 hours, depending on the freezer.
Notes
Make sure to let the container sit at room temperature for 5 min before scooping, and directly put the ice cream back in the freezer once served.
Homemade vanilla ice cream can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months, but it will taste best when eaten within 2 weeks of making it.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 big scoops
- Calories: 607
Keywords: classic summer desserts, custard based ice cream, traditional ice cream