When I was a kid, my dad bought an old-fashioned electric ice cream maker with a wooden container. He would make the ice cream mix right in the metal ice cream canister with sweetened condensed milk. Daddy always had a sweet tooth and had to taste the rich, thick milk as he made the mix. He let us taste it too. Then we’d pack the wooden container with crushed ice and rock salt, put the top on and wait quite impatiently until our ice cream was frozen. Spoons were handed to my sisters and I and we ate the ice cream out of the canister as soon as it was ready.
Maybe that’s way out of everything I do in the kitchen, I love stir-freezing the most. Even today, I can’t resist tasting my creation as soon as it’s frozen. I love everything about ice cream; the coldness as it hits my lips, the sweet creaminess as it melts in my mouth. I can mix almost anything together and it still tastes great. The biggest challenge I’ve had in making homemade ice cream is scoopability. Homemade ice creams are notorious for freezing so hard that you have to let it set out for 30 minutes or so before you can scoop them. Not this one – you can scoop it right out of the freezer. That’s a good thing because it’s so delicious you won’t want to wait. Once you master the vanilla ice cream, try the cinnamon variation below.
This post is part of Finer Things Friday and Food On Fridays.
Ingredients
- 2 cups 1% milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
- ½ cup light agave nectar
- 2 vanilla bean pods or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean pod & 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 large egg yolks, beaten until smooth
Instructions
- Combine milk and heavy cream in a heavy bottom medium sized sauce pan. Put gelatin and arrowroot powder in two separate, small bowls. Add 3 tablespoons of milk mixture to each bowl. Mix each bowl well and let sit so that gelatin and arrowroot can soften.
- Split vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape seeds. Add to milk. After both vanilla beans have been scraped, add the vanilla bean pods, gelatin, and agave to the milk mixture. Heat to scalding over medium heat, stirring until gelatin is dissolved. Once milk reaches the scalding point, turn heat down to low immediately and remove milk from heat.
- Add 1/3 cup of warm milk mixture to egg yolks, stirring constantly. Add eggs to sauce pan and return to heat. Add arrowroot and stir. Cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Do not boil. To see if the mix is finished cooking, dip a spoon into the mix and quickly remove it. Using a clean finger, draw a line in the mix on the back of the spoon. If the mix holds the line and does not run then it's finished. If not, cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute and test again. Remove from heat.
- Remove vanilla bean pods from mixture. Strain into a medium bowl. Cover immediately and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. The ice cream mix will thicken considerably. You can also place the bowl in an ice bath to cool it quicker. Simply fill a large bowl halfway with ice. Set the bowl with the ice cream mix on top of the ice, working it into the cubes until ice surrounds the medium bowl. You can place it in the refrigerator and stir every 30 minutes or so until it is cool.
- Stir freeze according to manufactures directions.
Amy @ Finer Things
posted on June 26, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Mmmmm, homemade ice cream is a favorite in our house!
This is my first visit to your blog, but it won't be my last. I'll be back to do some "no sugar" research. We need to cut it!
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Amy Green
posted on June 26, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Amy – Thanks for visiting & so glad that you find this helpful. Your site is a breath of fresh air.
It's so nice to have a reminder about what's important.
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Denice
posted on November 11, 2009 at 5:22 am
Question, is it possible to reduce or eliminate the eggs and still have the ice cream turn out? I’m sensitive to eggs and am concerned that this will taste so good that I won’t be able to control myself and stay in my egg exposure limit.
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Amy Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 8:08 am
@Denice, Try using xanthan gum instead. That would be a good substitute. It might freeze a little harder so you’d need to set it out before digging in. You’ll still need to heat it, though, to dissolve the gelatin.
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Sarah
posted on December 6, 2009 at 7:23 pm
This looks great! We LOVE ice cream in our house and my whole family would love this. I’m a newbie though to making homemade ice cream this way. What does “Stir freeze according to manufactures directions.” mean?? Do I need to just run the chilled mixture through my ice cream maker?
I noticed that you said on your last cooking day that you made this ahead of time. How do you store it? Do you make it all into ice cream right away and then freeze that? Thanks!!
I really enjoy your site and all the wonderful recipes!
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Amy Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
@Sarah, Each ice cream maker comes with it’s own set of instructions. I use the ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid, so I follow the directions for that. It depends on your make and model.
You have to chill the ice cream mix overnight and then stir-freeze it the next day. Then, I pack it into freezer safe mason jars or big plastic Gladware containers and put it in the freezer. If you have any other questions, come back and ask away.
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Sarah Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Thanks Amy!! That is very helpful. I figured you mixed it up in an ice cream maker I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t going to mess something up.
Thanks again!
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Amy Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
@Sarah, The great thing about ice cream is that it’s so hard to mess up – if you don’t get it right you can let it melt and add something to it, chill it, and freeze it again.
Andrea
posted on November 22, 2010 at 11:10 am
Amy-
Hands down one of the best homemade vanilla ice creams I’ve ever made. It was so creamy and still very scoopable right out of the freezer, the color and texture were perfect!
Thanks for this post!!!!
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Jeanette Iuzzolino
posted on May 19, 2011 at 12:15 pm
For the Vanilla extract when you say 2 T does that mean tablespoons?
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Amy Reply:
May 19th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
@Jeanette Iuzzolino, Yes.
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bella
posted on August 10, 2011 at 4:01 pm
I have made the ‘custard’ so far with almond milk and it developed a thin pudding like layer on the stove despite the stirring. It didn’t take long to develop the layer. Did I do something wrong? anyway it’s in the fridge chilling now, but i know there are lumps in it due to that top layer.
Thanks Amy and I am really enjoying your blog/pictures and recipes!
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Amy Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 11:37 am
@bella, The recipe calls for real milk…I have never tried it with almond milk so I have no idea what to tell you.
If you need to be dairy-free, check out my recipe page and look for the coconut milk ice cream. It’s easy and delish!
So glad you’re enjoying my blog. Have fun experimenting!
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