Homemade Ice Cream

I scream, you scream.  We all scream for ice cream!   I just had to.

This summer, I’ve started making ice cream at home and documented my first two batches!  What I love about this is how customizable it is. For instance, if you want to limit your sugar intake, make your ice cream with agave, honey, stevia, or maple syrup instead!

I made a batch of butter pecan and a batch of green tea ice cream by tweaking a basic custard recipe.

Here’s what you need and what to do to make the basic ice cream base.

• 2.5 cups half & half
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tsp Stevia (in the raw)  (or use your favorite sweetener)
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1. Combine half & half and vanilla in a medium sized pot. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally; remove from heat.

2. Whisk together eggs, stevia, and salt in a large bowl. Gradually whisk in half of milk mixture. Pour egg-milk mixture back into pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 6 to 8 minutes.

3. Pour custard through a fine sieve into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water; . Let cool, stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate until cold; Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer instructions.   I used a Cuisinart machine and churned mixture for 25 minutes.

*For the butter pecan, I added in roasted pecans (roasted in butter and brown sugar) in the last 5 min of churning.   For the green tea ice cream I added organic matcha green tea powder to the custard mixture while cooking.

Enjoy!
-J