I was so excited to make ice cream. I went out and bought everything days before I had time to make it. I searched through MILLIONS of recipes and put together the best of about 3 different ones. Deciding the perfect flavor was a challenge in it’s self. There is so much you can do and so many flavors I wanted to try. I finally settled on vanilla bean and date.

I spent hours heating, separating eggs, cooling, freezing, stirring, freezing and stirring, and waiting….a lot of waiting. When it was finally ready (minutes before we were ready to head to bed). I ran to the freezer and dunked my spoon into the perfect frozen creamy mixture. Paused. I called for Chris to come try, he hurried into the kitchen “Is it awesome?” he was grinning. “Sure is!” I gave him a big spoonful. With a mouth full he looked confused and worried…. It was then that I broke it to him “It’s awful, what’s wrong with it??” He slowly swallowed…. Another pause, and then cautiously  “It’s not very good, babe”. We stood in the kitchen in silence for a moment. Sighing, I went to the couch and slumped down. “Why is it sooo bad??” I asked the universe. Chris joined me a couple minutes later and trying to comfort and help with the confusion  “Maybe you need more sugar?”.  SUGAR!!! I FORGOT THE SUGAR!! I burst into laughter! Chris just shook his head.

After confessing the horrible mistake to a few others we got some pretty great encouraging feedback, from “stir in some honey to sweeten it” and “dump into a blender, add some sugar and make a milkshake” … Today I took it out of the freezer to try to mix in some honey. It was rock hard so I let it melt a little. I stirred in some honey…then some more…and a little more. It still didn’t taste right. I shoved it angrily back into the freezer.  I pulled it out again when it had froze.  Still tasted like it was missing sugar. I wasn’t going to waste any more honey on this stupid ice cream. I took some quick photo’s and slammed it back into the freezer. I haven’t the heart to throw it out just yet….maybe tomorrow.

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 4 cups heavy cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 CUP OF SUGAR
• 2 vanilla beans  ( If you don’t have vanilla bean, use 2 tsp vanilla extract )
• handful chopped (pitted) dates

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix 2 cups of heavy and 1 cup of whipping cream in a pot
2. Heat it on low
3. Slit the Vanilla bean and scrape the seeds
4. Add it in the cream mixture
5. Chop and add dates to cream mixture
6. Remove from heat once scalded ( Boiled )
7. Whisk egg yolks and sugar  till it is light and creamy
8. Pour 1 cup of heavy and whipping cream that we heated, in the egg yolk slowly and keep whisking while pouring
9. Add the egg yolk mixture to the remaining heavy and cream mixture, blend in blender then strain back into pot
10. Heat this mixture on very low till the custard thickens
11. Keep stirring throughout
12. Do not over cook, otherwise the eggs will curdle!!!
13. Cool the custard in an iced bowl
14. Once cooled, mix it with the remaining 3 cups of heavy cream

If you have an ice cream maker, just pour the mixture in the bowl and make ice cream as per manufacturer’s instruction

Making Ice Cream Without A Machine:

1. Prepare your ice cream mixture, then chill it over an ice bath.

2. Put a deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer, and pour your custard mixture into it.

3. After 30 minutes, open the door and check it, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. Really beat it up and break up any frozen sections. Return to freezer.

4. Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing. If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer for best results, or hand-held mixer. But since we’re going low-tech here, you can also use just a spatula or a sturdy whisk along with some modest physical effort.

5. Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 3-4 hours to be ready to transfer.

6. It’s best to transfer to metal loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap. Put back in the freezer and leave another hour or two.

7. Scoop and serve!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I’ll stick to the experts for now when it comes to ice cream making.  I think the recipe still works and if done properly, you’ll have some deliciously awesome homemade ice cream. I will give it another shot. But, I need sometime to get over my disappointment. I had such high hopes.