French Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe

A couple of months ago, I purchased an Ice Cream Maker, and this whole summer I have been making Ice Creams and Sorbets. This here is a recipe for Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream that I made the most. It's so soft, creamy, rich and uses real Vanilla Beans! You can make this with and without and Ice Cream Maker. But having one will certainly make your life easier, and can actually save you a lot of money down the line, if you buy Ice Cream often. Of course, no store bought Ice Cream will ever compare to this.

This is a basic recipe, and a good one too, and what that means is that you can add lots of other things to this, to make different sorts of Ice Cream. And it doesn't have to be summer in order to make Ice Cream.

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Here are the Ingredients:

7 Egg Yolks

130 gr (2/3 cup) Sugar

600 ml (2 1/2 cups) Whole Milk

240 ml (1/2 cup) Heavy Cream

1 Whole Vanilla Bean

A note about the Ingredients: Make sure that the eggs are at room temperature so that they cream up better. It helps to use organic free range eggs too.

1. Pour the milk and the cream into a saucepan.

2. Cut a Vanilla Bean in half, and with the tip of a knife take out the seeds. But them, together with the beans in the milk and cream and let it simmer. Do not let it come to a boil!

3. While the milk is heating up, mix the sugar with the egg yolks and beating with a mixer, cream them for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture thickens and becomes pale.

4. Once the milk, cream and vanilla mixture has become hot, take out the Vanilla Bean. Tip: Don't thorw it away! Put it in a jar with some regular sugar, and you'll get the most amazing tasting vanilla sugar.

5. Now we need to temper the eggs. Using a ladle, pour some of the milk and cream mixture slowly into the sugar and egg yolk mixture and then immediately mix it in with a mixer or by hand.

6. Pour the tempered eggs back into the rest of the milk and cream mixture, and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes on low heat. The mixture needs to thicken. You'll know that it's done if the mixture covers the back of a wooden spoon, and when you make a line on the back of the spoon, the two sides don't run into each other.

7. Pour the cooked custard, through a sieve, into a bowl, and cover the top with some cling film, and let it cool down, then transfer it into your fridge and let it cool completely over night.

8. If you are using an Ice Cream Maker you should also make sure that the insert to your Ice Cream Maker is in the freezer overnight or however long it needs to be. Next day pour the mixture into the Ice Cream Maker and let it churn according to your manufacturers instructions. Mine takes 30 minutes. The consistency of your Ice Cream will be soft once it's done. Just transfer it into a air tight container, and leave it in the freezer for a good hour, before you scoop it out.

Voila! You're done, and ready to eat. I know that it looks like it's a long process, but really if you have an Ice Cream Maker you'll keep the container in the freezer always, and the mixture for the Ice Cream does make itself fast, you just have to wait for it to chill. So it's not time consuming on your part.

Tip: If you don't have an Ice Cream Maker don't be alarmed. You can make this without one (even though It won't taste quite the same). The trick is, once you pour the mixture into the airtight container in the end, take it out of the freezer every 30 minutes for the next 5-6 hours and give it a good stir. That way you'll get rid of the ice crystals that stop the ice cream from being creamy.

I hope you'll like this recipe! There is nothing quite like homemade Ice Cream. This one is very rich and creamy!