The One With the Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream

I bought my first Kitchen Aid a couple of months ago and I'm hopelessly in love. It's kind of ridiculous. It makes everything so easy. And I love making homemade pizza dough with it. But I was really, really excited when I found out that you can get an ice cream maker attachment. So that's what I requested for Mother's Day. And it has arrived and it is marvelous!

We went to a barbeque at my sister-in-law's new house on Saturday and I thought it would be fun to bring some homemade ice cream. I thought vanilla was a good place to start and looked up a couple of recipes for Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. I was disappointed to discover that vanilla beans run about $11 each... and since one recipes requires a whole bean I thought that was pretty ridiculous. So instead I opted to make a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream. It's still more special than regular ol' vanilla, but a heckuva lot cheaper. And it's pretty simple... although it does require some forethought.

Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream
(Makes about a quart)

• 2 cups (1 pint) half-and-half
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups (1 pint) heavy whipping cream
• 3 1/2 teaspoons Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the half-and-half to a simmer. Do not let it boil; watch it carefully and remove just before boiling point. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar with a whisk until well blended. Add the half-and-half and whisk to combine. Return the half-and-half mixture to the saucepan and heat again, until steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat and stir in whipping cream, vanilla extract and salt. Chill in refrigerator for about 6 hours.
Prepare in your ice cream maker according to directions.
When it is ready it will be a soft-serve consistency, which is delicious. But if you'd like it to be more of an ice cream consistency, freeze for 2-4 hours or overnight in an airtight container.

 

I served this with some Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars and it was so good. The perfect way to celebrate the start of summer.
It would also be good with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies or drizzled with Homemade Caramel Sauce. 

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