Fantastic Vanilla Ice Cream

Fantastic Vanilla Ice Cream
(Source: Maida Heatter's Cakes (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2011 ed., pg. 301).

Ice cream is one of my favorite things on earth and I always have some on hand, although most of the time it is store bought. That is absolutely okay but once you experience home-made ice cream, you realize that the two are indeed separate entities. I have made some of Maida's delicious ice creams in the past (Devil's Food Chocolate and Blueberry instantly come to mind) but so far this year, had not even taken the ice cream maker out of the freezer. That is, until this week. I opted for something simple and came across this recipe.

This is a delicious ice cream but it is very, very soft and begins to melt almost immediately after being removed from the freezer. It is very rich so a little bit goes a long way. I made the Grand Mariner Chocolate Sauce to go with this and of my lord, talk about divine. I will post that recipe later.

You will need a candy thermometer.  This recipe makes 1 1/2 pints.

2 cups heavy cream

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Divide the heavy cream into two separate cups.

Place one cup of the cream in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Let it stand until it achieves a wrinkled appearance.

Beat the egg yolks for a few minutes until they are pale and thick.  Gradually add the sugar and beat for an additional two minutes.

Add a little of the cream mixture to the egg yolks to temper it and then add about half of the cream to the eggs, scraping the bowl as needed.

Now add the egg mixture to the remaining cream that was left in the double boiler and place it back on medium heat.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape and stir the mixture until it reaches 180 degrees. Be sure and scrape the bottom of the pan as well.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl.  Stir until slightly cooled and add the vanilla extract and the remaining one cup of heavy cream.

Chill for an hour before putting it in your ice cream maker. Follow the directions for your machine (mine takes about 20 minutes).