Homemade Ice Cream

This recipe is listed on Pamela's Heavenly Treats

Last month my mother gave me an ice cream machine and I have been dying to try it!  I love watching Iron Chef America and Chopped when the judges make a big deal about the chef going to the ice cream machine.  This little machine helps me imagine that it is me going to the ice cream machine and that Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcus Samuelsson, and Geoffrey Zakarian rave over the bacon ice cream I have concocted....................

OK, back to reality!  Let's start by making a simple vanilla ice cream.  Here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Heat the cream, milk, honey, sugar, salt and vanilla bean in a sauce pan until very hot, but not boiling.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks.  Take 1/4 cup of the hot cream mixture and whisk that into the eggs.  Make sure you whisk constantly or you will cook your egg........

Stir the egg mixture into the cream mixture.  Remove from heat.  Strain with a fine mesh strainer to remove vanilla bean and any other solid particles you may have in your ice cream base.

Put the mixture in an ice bath (a bowl sitting on top of another bowl full of ice)

Refrigerate until cold.  When that is cold, assemble your ice cream machine.  I had to make sure my ice cream base was frozen.  I had put it in the freezer the night before.

When your ice cream machine is together, slowly pour the ice cream base into the machine and turn it on.  It is that easy!

The paddle turns and the mixture will thicken.  When the paddle slows down and the mixture is thick, turn off the machine and put the ice cream in a bowl, placing it in the freezer.

Allow that to freeze for an hour or so before serving.

Enjoy!