Vanilla Ice Cream

I forgot that Brian also got to have his hand at cranking with Al 

And the best part was always the eating of the ice-cream

When your oven isn't working and you're busy looking up non-baking items to concoct, where else would you go but to ice cream recipes!? It's summer, with weather so hot and sticky that it just begs for lots of ice cream to be consumed. With plenty of recipes online, making up a batch (or two) of ice-cream  seems the only logical thing to do.

My cousin Becky was recently telling me about how when it came time to divide up her folks worldly possessions, the girls decided to split the famous Al Beckett ice cream maker between them. Since it would be rather impractical to actually tear down the components of the ice-cream maker and divvy out the pieces, they each take the WHOLE contraption for a period of time. And what a treasure that ice-cream maker is. It's somewhat awe inspiring to think of how many friends, family, and acquaintances have sat out on Al and Janet's back patios over the decades, waiting eagerly for that hand-cranked dessert to be dished out in bowls or on cones. I know it was always the highlight of my summers as a child  - waiting for an outdoor picnic and the promise of ice-cream so good it became legendary. I can still picture Al and an assortment of other family volunteers bending over that machine, often wearing their aggrieved "Beckett Face", and grumbling about some perceived wretched difficulty with this particular batch - yet always winding up with a bowl of summer delight. Somewhere in my stacks of photos to be scanned are precious memories of Tim and Emily helping crank out a batch one summer. Family heritage and history at it's delicious best.

The first ice-cream recipe I tried this summer was one of those Pinterest cheating versions that don't use eggs or a cooked base custard. The result wasn't awful but definitely tasted like a short-cut recipe. And who wants ice-cream that lacks that supremely creamy texture that makes your heart glad and your waist expand????   So, this is a very basic recipe but it does turn out nice and creamy with a true ice-cream texture. I'm going to readily admit that not cranking by hand does probably mean the overall quality of the finished product isn't quite as sublime as what I knew from my childhood, but this old lady isn't up for that kind of vigorous exercise so I'm happy to let Kitchen-Aid do the work for me.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
6 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Fill a medium saucepan about half full with water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Set a medium heat proof mixing bowl over the simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.
2. In the bowl over the simmering water, whisk together the cream sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly to avoid scrambling the eggs, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and registers 170-175 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 6-8 minutes.
3. Set a fine meshed sieve over a second medium heat proof mixing bowl and pour the custard mixture through the sieve into the second bowl. Remove the sieve and mix in the milk and vanilla. Stir the mixture for about 5 minutes, until cooled. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. Once the custard is thoroughly chilled, transfer the mixture to the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker. Freeze for 20-30 minutes, according to manufacturer's instructions, until the mixture is the texture of soft serve.
5. Transfer mixture to a freezer safe storage container and freeze for at least 2 hours or until it reaches the desired consistency.