With warmer weather here, and hopefully, more to come, I thought a couple of homemade ice cream recipes might be fun. Ice cream is divided into two basic categories: French custard style and Philadelphia style.
Custard ice cream is made from a custard base. Lots of egg yolks are whisked together with cream and milk and sugar, and cooked gently until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. All those egg yolks, besides containing a good dose of fat, are natural emulsifiers, and the resulting custard makes an ice cream that is remarkably smooth and incredibly rich. Philadelphia style ice cream contains no egg yolks and does not require cooking. It’s based purely on cream and sugar.
This kind of ice cream can be just as rich, though perhaps not quite as silky-smooth as French custard. Philadelphia style ice cream can be a little simpler to make than French custard, as it does not require the same precision in cooking a custard, and the recipes are more flexible; you can use heavy cream, half and half, whole milk, skim milk, sour cream or yogurt. Here is a recipe for each kind. Enjoy. This first one is for a custard (or cooked) style.
With the 4th of July coming and family arriving, one of these might be fun to try. You can add any flavor you like to the vanilla, I like bananas, and don’t forge the fresh strawberries! Yumm. Have fun!
(makes 1 quart)
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions: In a small skillet over medium heat, sauté pecans in butter until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Set aside. In a medium saucepan over low heat, stir together brown sugar, eggs and half and half until smooth. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in cream, vanilla and pecans. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers’ directions.
2 cups half-and-half cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup and
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 pinch salt
Directions: Combine half-and-half, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt in freezer container of ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Enjoy! Talk to you again next week. I’m looking forward to hearing from you with any suggestions or recipes you like. I can be reached at susieqcooking@ainop.com or c/o Pioneer Times, PO Box 456, Houlton, Maine 04730. See you next week!
