Creamy, rich French vanilla ice cream in a no-churn format, so you can have your custard-based ice cream and eat it too, even if you don't own an ice cream churn.Rich and smooth with cooked egg yolks, this is the super-premium French vanilla ice cream of your dreams.
11ozsweetened condensed milkabout 4 tablespoons shy of a whole can
1Tablespoonvanilla extract
6ozhalf and half3/4 cup
Instructions
Make the Pate a Bombe
In a small bowl, whip the yolks and salt together until thick and creamy.
Place the sugar and water together in a small saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture reaches 240-245F.
Stream the hot sugar syrup into the yolks, whisking with a hand mixer the whole time. Pour carefully so you don't stream the syrup onto the beaters where it will get slung against the sides of the pan.
Continue to whip until very thick, pale yellow, and cool, about 5-7 minutes.
Set aside.
Make the Ice Cream
In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.
Whip with the whisk attachment until thickened--whisk will leave tracks in the cream, but it won't be at the peak stage.
Scrape/pour the pate a bombe into the bowl and continue to whisk until the whole mixture is at the ribbon stage. The mixture will fall back into the bowl, sitting on top of the rest of the mixture for a few seconds before sinking back in.
With the mixer still running, stream in the half and half to combine.
Scrape the bowl thoroughly and whip a few more seconds.
Pour your ice cream base into your container/s, and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the base.
Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.
Notes
For a firmer and less-sweet ice cream, decrease the sweetened condensed milk by one or two ounces and replace it with an equal amount of whole milk.Another way to arrive at a firmer ice cream is to replace the half and half with whole milk.Substitute vanilla paste for the vanilla extract if you like to see vanilla specks in your ice cream.Store in a freezer-tight container for up to a week.