Unleashing the Monster- Homeade Vanilla Vanilla Ice Cream

Homeade Vanilla Vanilla ice cream

I was prompted to resurrect our ice cream maker, which had not been used in over 10 yrs., when I saw

Foodalution's post for Blueberry Lime ice cream.  It brought back memories of a smooth creamy, sweet concoction they call ice cream with no chemicals. I went to the basement, and carefully unleashed the "monster"  off the shelf.  I'm calling the ice cream maker a monster because Scott and I will be battling the urge to make ice cream all of the time. Not a bad thing to want to eat ice cream all the time, but not a good thing if you have health concerns.  We poured over many recipes, but decided to make vanilla first, and layer with fruit, a little bit healthy, right?  Next batch that we make might be a little healthier.

The recipe we chose was Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream, from the Food  Network,which used a vanilla bean.  Thanks to Stef at Cupcake Project , who featured vanilla bean paste, I used vanilla bean paste.  It has vanilla bean seeds, so the paste adds the all natural appearances to your dishes, without alcohol or thinning your recipe.One  Tbsp. of vanilla bean paste equals one vanilla bean.  I got mine at The Spice House for all of you Chicago area bloggers.

Ingredients

• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons peach preserves (not jelly)
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, or 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Bean paste
•  Any fresh fruit you like (I used peaches and strawberries)

Directions

Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp), or the vanilla bean paste,  in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Attach a frying or candy thermometer to inside of pan. (see note below) Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the hull of the vanilla bean, pour mixture into lidded container and refrigerate mixture overnight to mellow flavors and texture.


Freeze mixture in ice cream freezer according to unit's instructions. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine. Once the volume has increased by 1/2 to 3/4 times, and reached a soft serve consistency, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

NOTE: If you do not have a thermometer, bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. As soon as you see a bubble hit the surface, remove it from the heat. Do not let it boil.