French Vanilla Ice Cap Recipes

Steps:

• Put cream and milk into a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Scrape vanilla seeds from beans with the tip of a small knife into pan; add beans. Heat the mixture until hot (do not let simmer), about 2 minutes. Remove mixture from heat; cover, and let stand 30 minutes.
• Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Put yolks, sugar, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until yolk mixture has tripled in volume and can hold a ribbon on surface for 2 seconds, about 3 minutes.
• Reduce speed to medium. Ladle 1 cup cream mixture in a slow stream into yolk mixture to temper it. Add another cup cream mixture; beat to combine. Transfer mixture to saucepan; cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and an instant-read thermometer registers 180 degrees; 5 to 7 minutes.
• Pour custard through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl set in ice-water bath. Let cool completely, stirring often.
• Freeze custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately, or freeze in an airtight plastic container until ready to serve. If frozen for more than 4 hours, let ice cream stand at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• In a saucepan, beat egg yolks with whisk; add sugar and continue beating until thick.
• Stir in half and half; heat and stir until thickened.
• Remove from heat and cool.
• Stir in heavy cream and vanilla extract; cover and chill in refrigerator an hour until needed.
• Pour into ice cream maker and process according to your machine's direction.
• Makes about 1 quart.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together the yolks and half of the sugar.
• In a non-reactive saucepan combine the cream, 1 cup of the milk, the remaining sugar, and the salt.
• Split the vanilla bean in half, lengthwise, to expose the tar-like seeds inside the pod. Scrape the seeds loose with a knife; add the bean and the seeds to the cream mixture.
• Heat the cream over medium-high heat until just at a boil. Remove from the heat. Gradually pour the hot liquid into the yolks, while whisking constantly. Return the cream-egg mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring the mixture constantly, with a wooden spoon in a figure-8 motion, until thickened, about 10 minutes. When the ice cream mixture is properly cooked it should coat the back of a spoon, be satiny thick, and be free of any bubbles on the surface. (If you taste the ice cream base it should have a slight egg-y taste.) When thickened, pour in the reserved milk to prevent the mixture from overcooking. Strain into a medium bowl. Add the cognac if desired.
• Fill another bowl with ice. Set the bowl of ice cream base in the ice and stir until thoroughly chilled. Freeze the base in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Take care not to over churn the ice cream or it will get a grainy texture.) Transfer the ice cream to the freezer to set up for at least 1 hour. Serve.