It’s been a while and Farida has been out of blogosphere for a long time. But she is back hoping not to disappear again. So sorry for not having posting any new recipes and for missing all the delicious posts of yours. The thing is I’ve been so caught up with writing my cookbook and haven’t had a chance to do anything else besides that.
To earn your forgiveness, today I am going to share with you my favorite recipe for vanilla ice cream. Before making this ice cream, I had no intention to make any ice cream whatsoever as I thought I had two good excuses for this: 1) I have no ice cream machine, and 2) California is like an ice-cream paradise: walk into any supermarket and choose among dozens of delicious flavored ice creams. Why bother to make your own. But… after quite a few of my Azeri language blog readers had asked me for an ice cream recipe, I decided to put my excuses aside and make them happy. And I am glad I did! I used Dorrie Greenspan’s recipe, adjusting it only slightly. Since I don’t have an ice cream machine for churning, I followed David Lebovitz’s advice on how to make it without one. It worked great and we ended up with the most delicious, creamy and yummy ice cream ever. Hope you make it too!
By the way, stay tuned for Helen’s Macaroon Sandwich Cookies I made using the reserved egg whites!
VANILLA ICE CREAM
Slightly adapted from Dorrie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”
Makes about 1 quart
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks (if small, use 6)
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1. Bring the milk and cream to a boil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Remove from heat.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid – this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon (it took me about 7 minutes to have it thicken); if you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon, the custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170F, but no more than 180F, on an instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard into a clean heatproof bowl.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Refrigerate the custard until chilled before churning it in your ice cream machine, or use David Lebovitz’s method for making ice cream without a machine.
