Kitsnacks: French vanilla ice cream

French Vanilla Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
1/3 c sugar
1.5 c cream
vanilla to taste
pinch of salt

Mix egg yolks and sugar at a high speed until they’ve thickened to a lovely light yellow and make ribbons when you draw the beaters out and across the surface of the mixture.

Scald the cream. Remove from heat when a perfect scald is reached. Add salt and vanilla. (I judged the vanilla by the mixture’s smell, and would guess I used 2-3 tablespoons. But that’s a guess.)

Drizzle the scalded cream into the egg mixture, mixing on high all the while. (Drizzling is important here, because letting the eggs cook slowly as the hot cream is poured in is most of what keeps the custard from being lumpy.)

Cook the custard in the upper pot of a double boiler over simmering, not boiling, water, for 12-15 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it thickens enough to nicely coat the back of the spoon without instantly sliding off.

Put the pot of hot custard into a bowl of ice water and allow to cool to room temperature.

Proceed as your ice cream maker recommends.

Makes about 2-3 cups of ice cream. My ice cream maker, which is a 1 litre/quart thingie, could easily have held double this recipe.

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