Vanilla ice cream
Today I'm going to write this recipe in English. I've been promising my friend in Beijing the recipe for ice cream for a long time and now finally, on my last day of vacation, I'm finally geting dow to actually doing it. This is for my friend in washington D.C. too, of course. You guys can make some gelato at home :).
Vanilla ice cream was supposed to be served with the pancake I tried to make (in the oven) which went really badly wrong, when we had guests last weekend. I have explained that incident at length in my Finnish food story post and will not go into that here. Suffice to say, I wound up frying some pancakes in a pan on the stove, which were just as good as the oven made one would have been, if it had turned out succesfully. At least the ice cream was good, perfect in fact. This is a full proof recipe and if you just follow it closely, you can't go wrong.
You don't necessarily need an ice cream maker. You can make ice cream just by stirring it when it is in the freezer. A machine however does make life a bit easier. I originally didn't want to get an ice cream maker because I was pretty sure I'd use it like once or twice and then it would forever after be cluttering the kitchen cuboards. But I was mistaken in thinking that. We make ice cream regularly and it's a great favourite with guests.
You can make lots of different flavours, of course, but here we'll start out with the basic one; vanilla. This recipe is my own and has been created through trial and error, until I basically found the correct ingredients and amounts. It goes like this:
for the custard:
(sorry y'all in the U.S., you'll have to convert the measurements)
1 dl whipping cream (or double cream, should you be lucky enough to live in a country where this is available)
3 dl milk (whole milk, this is not even supposed to be light)
2 dl sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
a pinch of salt
5 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla sugar
later add
4 dl whipped cream
Use a double boiler to make the custard. If you don't, chanses are very good that it will curdle for sure, which of course in a custard is a very undesireable thing. Fill the bottom of the double boiler with water so that it does not touch the top part of the boiler. Simmer at medium to low heat. If you boil the water too much it will heat the custard too much. This will result in curdling, or if it doesn't the mixture will taste of egg, as my friend once commented when she made ice cream. This is probably the most important thing to remember when making ice cream. A good custard is of course the base for great ice cream. Also, if you boil the water at too low a temperature, the eggs will not set at all and you will wind up with runny ice cream.
Heat the milk and 1 dk cream in a pan and set aside. Once the water in the double boiler is simmering, add the sugar, the corn starch and the vanilla sugar to the top pan of the boiler and mix well. Add the hot milk. Now comes the whisking. And you must whisk constantly! Otherwise it the mixture will get clotted and that is also not what you want in a custard. So just take a deep breath and be prepaired to whisk the mixture non-stop for 20 mins. with a spiral whisk. And it's only 20 mins. which won't kill you. I usually take a book to read while I'm doing this whisking bit and if it's a good book, you won't even notice the time. Whisk the milk-sugar mixture for 10 mins. and then add the eggs, whisking for an additional 10 mins. Now cool the mixture. You can do this by plunging the pan into ice cold water in the sink, stirring occasionally. Right now in Finland the cooling bit is easily and quickly done by popping the pan outside on the balcony. At -5 degrees Celsius this works very well.
When the custard is cool, whip the cream and add gently folding into the custard until you get a smooth and even mixture. At this point if you have the ice cream maker, use it according to the manufacturer's instructions and you are done! But you can, as I said, do this part without a machine. Just fill a plastic bowl with the custard-cream mixture and put it in the freezer. Every 45 mins. or so take the bowl out and stir the mixture. Keep doing this until the mixture has frozen into ice cream. The point of the stirring is to prevent ice crystals from forming in the mixture and the result will be smooth and creamy ice cream. The whole point of the ice cream maker is exactly this, to break the ice crystals while it churns the mixture. Any way do do this, you'll have a lovely bowl of great-tasting ice cream!
Vanilla ice cream was supposed to be served with the pancake I tried to make (in the oven) which went really badly wrong, when we had guests last weekend. I have explained that incident at length in my Finnish food story post and will not go into that here. Suffice to say, I wound up frying some pancakes in a pan on the stove, which were just as good as the oven made one would have been, if it had turned out succesfully. At least the ice cream was good, perfect in fact. This is a full proof recipe and if you just follow it closely, you can't go wrong.
You don't necessarily need an ice cream maker. You can make ice cream just by stirring it when it is in the freezer. A machine however does make life a bit easier. I originally didn't want to get an ice cream maker because I was pretty sure I'd use it like once or twice and then it would forever after be cluttering the kitchen cuboards. But I was mistaken in thinking that. We make ice cream regularly and it's a great favourite with guests.
You can make lots of different flavours, of course, but here we'll start out with the basic one; vanilla. This recipe is my own and has been created through trial and error, until I basically found the correct ingredients and amounts. It goes like this:
for the custard:
(sorry y'all in the U.S., you'll have to convert the measurements)
1 dl whipping cream (or double cream, should you be lucky enough to live in a country where this is available)
3 dl milk (whole milk, this is not even supposed to be light)
2 dl sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
a pinch of salt
5 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla sugar
later add
4 dl whipped cream
Use a double boiler to make the custard. If you don't, chanses are very good that it will curdle for sure, which of course in a custard is a very undesireable thing. Fill the bottom of the double boiler with water so that it does not touch the top part of the boiler. Simmer at medium to low heat. If you boil the water too much it will heat the custard too much. This will result in curdling, or if it doesn't the mixture will taste of egg, as my friend once commented when she made ice cream. This is probably the most important thing to remember when making ice cream. A good custard is of course the base for great ice cream. Also, if you boil the water at too low a temperature, the eggs will not set at all and you will wind up with runny ice cream.
Heat the milk and 1 dk cream in a pan and set aside. Once the water in the double boiler is simmering, add the sugar, the corn starch and the vanilla sugar to the top pan of the boiler and mix well. Add the hot milk. Now comes the whisking. And you must whisk constantly! Otherwise it the mixture will get clotted and that is also not what you want in a custard. So just take a deep breath and be prepaired to whisk the mixture non-stop for 20 mins. with a spiral whisk. And it's only 20 mins. which won't kill you. I usually take a book to read while I'm doing this whisking bit and if it's a good book, you won't even notice the time. Whisk the milk-sugar mixture for 10 mins. and then add the eggs, whisking for an additional 10 mins. Now cool the mixture. You can do this by plunging the pan into ice cold water in the sink, stirring occasionally. Right now in Finland the cooling bit is easily and quickly done by popping the pan outside on the balcony. At -5 degrees Celsius this works very well.
 |
| Custard mixture ready for the ice cream maker. |
When the custard is cool, whip the cream and add gently folding into the custard until you get a smooth and even mixture. At this point if you have the ice cream maker, use it according to the manufacturer's instructions and you are done! But you can, as I said, do this part without a machine. Just fill a plastic bowl with the custard-cream mixture and put it in the freezer. Every 45 mins. or so take the bowl out and stir the mixture. Keep doing this until the mixture has frozen into ice cream. The point of the stirring is to prevent ice crystals from forming in the mixture and the result will be smooth and creamy ice cream. The whole point of the ice cream maker is exactly this, to break the ice crystals while it churns the mixture. Any way do do this, you'll have a lovely bowl of great-tasting ice cream!
 |
| Delicious vanilla ice cream ready to be served. |
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