Vanilla Ice Cream
It's a heat wave here in Toronto. The likes of which hasn't been felt since July! Come on though, it's seriously hot for the end of August. Awesome. I walk outside and it's like being back in Trinidad. You melt. Beautifully and completely. Nothing like it. Admittedly, it feels a bit odd getting ready for school and hearing all this stuff about 'fall' and 'back to school' whilst melting in 33 degrees. It's true though as much as I'd rather be at the beach. In just a few short days it's back to routines, early morning hustle, dance classes and work meetings. I'm trying to push all that out of my mind. Contemplate this for a second, Calgary (where my siblings and their families live) is freezing in near 0 degree temperatures. Forget Fall, they're all ready for Thanksgiving! What a strange country Canada is, eh? ;-)
I can't honestly put cooking off for long but the baking, well... that's something that I can't quite get away with. In addition, I'm still in a bit of a slump after saying goodbye to my cousin/sister (from another mother) on the weekend. Right now my regular chocolate habit just isn't cutting it. I need something more. However, the though of baking in this heat is off putting. The remedy is ice cream. I regularly make chocolate ice cream for Derek (it's his favourite and I must admit it's damn good) but vanilla is something else. Sacred almost. It must have vanilla bean in it as far as I'm concerned. I also splash it up with vanilla extract. When it comes to vanilla I spend money. I get the stuff from Williams Sonoma. It is great, very great, beyond great (well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here). It's well worth the money... end of. Today, I used a general custard recipe and added the vanilla junk after.
The junk that you could throw into this ice cream boggles the mind. Bits of your fave cookie, candy bar, malteezers, fruit mash, chocolate sauce (maybe for on top), caramel... you get the drift. I still like it plain jane. No crap except maybe some dark chocolate sauce... now if only I had a glass of champagne! ;-)
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
makes just under 1 litre of ice cream
1 cup sugar
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 eggs yolks, mixed
In a medium sized pot, mix together the sugar and vanilla seeds. Heat together over medium heat for just a minute or two. Add in the cream, milk and vanilla. Stir well and heat to just under boiling. Remove from the heat for a moment. Take a large spoonful of the custard and add to the yolks. Once the yolks have warmed up a bit from the hot custard, add the yolks all back into the custard. Mix well and heat gently to 170 degrees F if you have a candy thermometer or use the back of the spoon method (You know it's ready when you run your finger through the custard on the back of a spoon and it stays in place with a line in it. No running together)
Sieve the custard into a bowl and cover with some clingfilm (right onto the top of the custard so that it doesn't form a crust). Cool completely for a few hours in the fridge. Churn the cooled custard in an ice cream maker (or by hand I guess) until it's the right consistency. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze the ice cream.
Definitely let this soften for about 7 minutes before scooping and eating.
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About Me
- Wanda Thorne
- St Michael's Choir School is celebrating it's 75th anniversary year of service to St Michael's Cathedral. Part of the school celebration is a trip to Italy where our boys from Grades 5 - 12 will be performing and celebrating Mass. This blog will be chronicling our adventures. Wanda Thorne is the Vocal Coach at St Michael's Choir School. Gerard Lewis is the Grade 7/8 Homeroom teacher at the Choir School.
About Me
- Wanda Thorne
- St Michael's Choir School is celebrating it's 75th anniversary year of service to St Michael's Cathedral. Part of the school celebration is a trip to Italy where our boys from Grades 5 - 12 will be performing and celebrating Mass. This blog will be chronicling our adventures. Wanda Thorne is the Vocal Coach at St Michael's Choir School. Gerard Lewis is the Grade 7/8 Homeroom teacher at the Choir School.
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4 comments:
Would you PLEASE come out here and bring your weather with you! Come and bake/cook for me for a week - I'll even share you with Melissa if I have to (see what a nice SIL I am!!)
Awwwww! I would LOVE to. I wish that I could. School (ugh) is preventing me from any travels at the moment though... oh yeah, and the fact that I'm stupid broke until my first paycheque rolls in!
love you though ;-)
xoxo
What do you use for a freezer container? I'm stumped on what to use for my own ice cream.
Oops, I forgot to mention that. I just use a) a large yogurt container OR b) a well sealed rubbermaid tupperware container. Both work well.
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