Homemade Ice Cream Part 2

As promised, I challenged myself to make the more “complex” version of ice cream from my previous post. After doing a little research I found that this more complex method is called French-style ice cream, that is, using egg yolks to create a richer, thicker, and creamier ice cream. The version I made last week is referred to as Philadelphia-style, using just milk, heavy cream, and sugar.

All in all, I must admit that for the amount of effort involved, the difference was a lot less than I was expecting. It was delicious, but so was the other one, and it required very little effort. Maybe it’s just me, so definitely give this a go. Besides, it’s fun to try new things and learn something new in the kitchen!

This particular batch of ice cream was made especially for my boyfriend, who this past week turned the big 30! He is not a dessert guy, which makes us great opposites, but what he does love is nerds, sweetarts, and nerds blizzards. This rendition turned into my attempt at a version of a nerds blizzard… The only problem is that it was consumed so quickly that I didn’t get a photo of the final product! Guess I’ll just have to make it again…gee, isn’t that a shame when that happens! The following will outline the additional steps required to make French-style ice cream.

First, combine 1 3/4 cup of milk with 1 cup of heavy cream in a medium pot. Bring it to medium high heat just until it simmers. 

Reserve 1 cup of heavy cream, we’ll use that in a bit. You’ll need 4 egg yolks and instead of throwing away the egg whites, I like to hang on to those for a healthy breakfast scramble… Or until I find that Tupperware in the back of the fridge a week later and try hard to recall what that stuff is. Eesh, did I just admit that?

In a mixer (I love any excuse to bust this baby out) combine the 4 egg yolks and 3/4 cup of sugar on medium speed until the texture is thick and resembles mayo. A quick note, use regular granulated sugar. I used granulated cane sugar and it took a long time to dissolve the sugar into the eggs. I’m not a baker and won’t pretend I am, so there may be a logical reason for this, I’m just sharing my experience.

This could take anywhere from 2-8 minutes as mine took awhile!

It’s thick but not stiff.

Now, here’s the tricky part! Take a cup of your simmered milk and cream mixture and while the mixer is on medium slowly drizzle in the hot milk into the egg and sugar. Be careful to not curdle the custard…an ice cream with bits of scrambled egg does not sound appealing!

Now, transfer the tempered eggs into the pot with the remaining milk and cream. Over medium low heat stirring constantly, combine this together until the mixture thickens. You should be able to draw a line on the back of the spoon and it should stay put. That term is a fancy French word called ‘Nappe’ (nah-pay). Feel free to use these terms in front of people to sound super sophisticated!

Once this mixture is thick I added the additional cup of heavy cream and my favorite vanilla bean paste, as I noted in my previous ice cream post. You can use vanilla extract or simmer a scraped vanilla bean instead. I would suggest pouring this creamy base through a fine sieve to remove any imperfections that may have been caused from the eggs. I don’t have one so I was pretty darn careful and took a big leap of faith that it was okay! (It was fine). Then pour this into a large mixing bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to keep it from forming a weird skin. Place in the refrigerator and chill for a few hours or best if left overnight. 

In such a hurry preparing for my boyfriends surprise birthday party I didn’t take any more pictures… Epic fail! But the process is the same at this point. Run through your ice cream maker for 20-25 minutes and add in your topping (if adding one) in the last couple minutes to combine. I added nerds, about a box and a half and it turned out pretty sour from the candy! The guests and the Birthday Boy seemed to enjoy it because it was gone before I knew it! Hope you give both of these recipes a try, I would love to hear your feedback from both versions!

*updated with photo!