Vanilla Bean Ice Cream & Walnuts. The Dream Team.

It began with a vanilla bean. The purchase of 24 vanilla beans. RM12 out of my pocket. Yearning. Wanting. Calling my dear cousie Christine who with much persuasion, agreed to lend me her baby. Her ice cream maker.

She was really easy to persuade, actually! Thank YOU!!!

But what do you DO with an ice cream maker not yours? You of course, go on an overanxious ice cream making spree! You, is not naming any names, but a purely third figure of speech. Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental.

Back to humble self, we see her every fortnightly, so I thought we could, possibly make 101 recipes in a frame of two weeks. I then thought, it’s very simple – I would simply (and over-zealously) compile all ice cream recipes and start churnin’!

I opened up The Perfect Scoop (also from said Cousin Beloved). And that was the end of me. The recipes! *dies* But. I realised that ice cream makers of the non commercial sort need to be chilled overnight. 24 hours, any less than that and you make ice cream at your own risk.

Garfard! That mean probably 3 or 4 ice creams in 1 week! So much for 101 ice creams! Here my heart has sank a little, but don’t worry, I’m doing much better. I want to report to you wonderful people the 3 wonderful ices I’ve been making. They go on a scale of Fully Fattening to Extremely Healthy. Bear with me as I present you,

Ice Cream #1
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
The Perfect Scoop, David Lebovitz, page 24

Recipe
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
Pincha salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks (EEEEP!!!!! I’m never eating ice cream ever!)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a medium saucepan. Scrape the vanilla bean’s seeds into the warm milk and add the bea as well. (UPDATE: Oh dear I only put in the milk and sugar! No wonder it curdled!). Cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 30 mins.

Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a large bowl and set a strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Then slowly pour the warm milk & sugar mixture into the egg yolks, whisking CONSTANTLY, then scrape the warmed eggs yolks mixture back into the saucepan.

Stir the mix constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, SCRAPING THE BOTTOM ENDLESSLY until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. This is the custard! Now pour it through the strainer and stir it into that remaining 1 cup of cream. Put the vanilla bean into the custard, and add the vanilla extract. Stir until cool OVER AN ICE BATH (just a big bowl filled with icey cold water. Put yer bowl of custard in this).

Chill the mixture THOROUGHLY (this is the 1st step to goood ice cream!) in the refridgerator. When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use (I just threw it. Haha! But it’s empty..right? Unless I put it in my sugar for vanilla sugar eh?) and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions.

Whalla! Eat only one spoon and pretend it never happened.

Rating (based on my personal outcome): 4/5
Conclusion Very smooth, and the most ice cream like of the 3! Because we used all the definitely-unhealthy stuff like 6 egg yolks and cream. Custard is tricky, I’ll make this again next time and try to perfect my custard-making skills. I think it’s worthy of a whole post! Mine curdleddddd. Eep, but after blending it in, it wasn’t too noticeable! Next note: Way too sweet. One thing about David’s book..I’d halve the sugar content any day. Even after using brown sugar! I’d love to make this one again WITH dairy cream (I only had non-dairy sweetened cream..so that did contribute to the sugarness)

Ice Cream #2
Mango Sorbet
The Perfect Scoop, David Lebovitz, page 108

Recipe
2 sweet ripe mangoes, cut into cubes
1 cup water
4 tsp lime juice, to taste. (I don’t have the right name for this – not the lime in dishwashing agents but the one in Limao Ais!)
1 tsp rum (I would’ve put this in but I faced objections)

To Make: Blend all. If you want it more tangy, add more lime juice. We added a whole lemon in, and I found it too much but I wouldn’t mind more lime. Refridgerate for 30 mins then prepare as per ice cream maker’s instructions. I did mine 15 minutes, left it over night (sorbets take longer to freeze) and tasted it. Too icey still! So we let it melt a little and whizzed it again in the ice cream maker. After that, the texture was AMAZING!!!!! Sooper good. My favourite of the lot.

Rating (based on my personal outcome): 5/5
Conclusion

Ice Cream #3
Banana Almond Butter Cup Ice Cream, sans Almond Butter Cup, HAHA
Everyday Raw, Matthew Kenney, page 136

1 cup cashews
1/2 cup young coconut meat (OHHHH NO! I put in 1 1/2 cups!!!! No wonder!)
1/2 cup agave
1 1/4 cup water
2 bananas, ripened and peeled (at this stage, I tasted the extra coconut + banana and water = EXCELLENT! I’ll try this, as I’ll further elaborate below, without the cashew nuts)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup coconut oil (How could I have missed this??)
Pincha sea salt (Celtic’s good for me)
1/4 vanilla bean, scraped

(Get the real recipe here, it is MUCH tastier with the whole Almond Butter Cups!)

Blend all slowly ingredient by ingredient for perfect smoothness, refridgerate thoroughly and churn as per ice cream manufacturer’s instructions.

Rating (based on my personal outcome): 2/5 – probably due to my terrible recipe-following skills *malu*
Conclusion I want to try this once more, without the cashew nuts. With the accident of more coconut, I venture to boldly declare: it hath potential! Notes to self: Maybe I’ll try boiling the cashew nuts so that the cashew taste goes away. And I’ll be more patient and wait for it to be soft before grinding, so that I get a creamy texture. Same goes for waiting for the right coconut meat, mine was too old!

So that wraps the week up! I’m on a Hilton Head Ramp Up Yer Metabolism Diet (Or Something Like That) right now, so I’ll update you as to my progress! This week is Low-Cal week…we’ll see how I survive! :o)

While you’re waiting, try the Mango Sorbet! Mangoes are in season now. Life is bliss!

Wait! I can’t eat mango! Sheesh! Life is cruel!