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Homemade Heavenly Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

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Homemade Heavenly Vanilla Bean Ice Cream should be your Go-To Homemade Ice Cream Recipe Starting Point for any frozen dessert treat you’re about to design.

Homemade Heavenly Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla Bean Ice Creammmmm…..

 

It’s All About Balance

All of life is about balance. 
Where would chocolate be without a little vanilla to balance it?
And Homemade Heavenly Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is here to help you find a little balance in your life. 

You deserve a little treat now and again. One must balance work and play. Am I right?

Of course, right!

Have I got some yumminess for you!

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

My dear friend gave me a cookbook for Christmas called “Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams At Home” written by Jeni Britton Bauer.

And quite coincidentally, I won a Cuisinart Two Bowl Ice Cream Maker from one of my favorite food blogs, Bunkycooks, right before Christmas.

The combination of those two factors alone should have you anticipating many ice cream posts in days to come. Who cares that it’s January as I’m writing this?

And If You Must Have Chocolate for Balance…

I have hot fudge!!!

And not just any hot fudge!

It’s homemade lusciousness that you can make yourself, and I’m pretty sure its alchemy packs a potent love potion, besides!

So far, my hubby and I have tried two of Jeni’s recipes. The first was Ugandan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (and honestly, I’m pretty sure my vanilla beans were NOT Ugandan. They came to me from Madagascar, via Marx Foods and a giveaway that I won on another one of my favorite food blogs, 30A Eats.) But fragrant and flavorful, they were, smelling of flowers, and honey, and leather, and all things vanilla-y.

The second of Jeni’s recipes that we tried was Black Coffee Ice Cream. We enjoyed it very much, but not as much as the simple but exquisite vanilla.

The Problem with Jeni’s Ice Creams at Home Recipes

Honestly, we’ve had one small problem with each of Jeni’s two recipes that we’ve tried. Many of her recipes call for cream cheese as an ingredient.

Before I go further, I must tell you that the problem with her recipes is NOT the recipes themselves. The problem has been with the impatient girl (the one who is writing this post), who has been making Jeni’s recipes. Let me explain. 

You heat the milk, cream, sweeteners and vanilla, and then whisk those warmed ingredients into the SOFTENED cream cheese.  We followed her procedure exactly (we told ourselves), as stated in the cookbook, but with each recipe, we ended up with tiny lumps of cream cheese in the ice cream.

What We’ve Learned: 

We learned that when we did let the cream cheese completely come to room temperature before we started cooking, that we didn’t have those tiny lumps

EDITED TO ADD: further efforts have borne this to be true. Be sure your cream cheese is at room temp, and then beat the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out of it. And if you’re thinking about buying her cookbook, you really should. What a tremendous variety of flavors she offers! Imaginative, and delicious!

Heavenly Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Please: pin this on Pinterest!

Layer Any Add-In Ingredients

I think this ice cream would be awesome with some chopped Reese’s chunks thrown in at the end. Jeni recommends adding any chunks (candy, nuts, whatever you want to try) in layers as you’re pouring the ice cream from the ice cream maker into the container where you’ll store it in the freezer.

What would you add to it?

In the meantime, here’s the recipe for:

Heavenly Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Yield: 6 servings

Homemade Heavenly Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Homemade Heavenly Vanilla Ice Cream

A delicious homemade vanilla ice cream, where the vanilla bean brings that flavor to the forefront, and makes it the star it was born to be.

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 c. whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 oz. (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened (BE SURE TO BRING IT COMPLETELY TO ROOM TEMPERATURE, like I didn't)
  • 2/3 c. sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 1/4 c. heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1 vanilla bean, split, sides scraped out, seeds and beans removed
  • .

Instructions

  1. PREP: Mix about 2 T. of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
  2. COOK: Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla seeds and bean in a 4 qt. saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
  3. CHILL: Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.
  4. FREEZE: Remove the vanilla bean. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Pack the ice cream into a storage container ,, press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of our freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Notes

  • It is VERY important to bring your cream cheese to room temperature, and then whisk it like crazy. Further endeavors in ice cream making have borne this out.
  • CeP

    Tuesday 8th of April 2014

    I was introduced to Jeni's Spendid Ice Creams several years from friends from Ohio. I was amazed at the taste sensations her ice creams and frozen yogurts give you. I was very happy when four of her recipes were featured on the Food Network. I've been making them regulary and creating my own flavors. When Jeni's cookbook came out, my friends got it. I've borrowed it many times. Some of my favorites are Queen City Cayenne, Lemon/Blueberry Frozen Yogurt, and Sweet Potato with Torched Marshmallows.

    Regarding the cream cheese, I beat it smooth with my stand mixer, then very gradually add the liquid to it (beginning with only a tablespoon, then gradually increasing the amount) and make sure it is super smooth before adding additional liquid.

    Susan Williams

    Friday 15th of July 2016

    I think that's a great suggestion, especially if you have a hand held mixer. It's such a tiny amount of cream cheese that I'm afraid my paddle attachment wouldn't reach to the bottom of my bowl. In my Kitchen Aid, I do have problems with that, sometimes. But I do think that your suggestion would work for others! My recent post Carnitas Made in my Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven

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