This French vanilla ice cream is as good as any premium, artisan brand I’ve ever tried – and I’ve tried many. Two reasons: first, it’s absolutely delicious and has a gorgeous texture. It’s rich and creamy, yet has a lightness to it. It has a beautiful balance of vanilla, cream, and sweetness. Second, unlike most homemade ice creams, you can readily scoop this one no matter how long it’s been frozen.
Using “vanilla” as a synonym for “plain” or “ordinary,” is unfortunate in that it makes people forget that vanilla can be elevated to something quite extraordinary.
Ingredients
2¼ cups (1 lb. 3 oz.) heavy cream
1¾ cups (15 oz.) whole milk
1/2 cup (5 oz.) condensed milk
1-2 Tbs (7/8-1¾ oz.) honey
2 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise
6-8 large egg yolks
1/2 cup + 1 Tbs (3½ oz.) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Put cream, milk, condensed milk, and honey into a medium-to-large saucepan. Scrape vanilla seeds from beans with the tip of a small knife into pan; add bean pods. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat (setting 6 of 9) until hot (do not let simmer), about 5-6 minutes. Remove mixture from heat; cover, and let stand 30 minutes.
- Put yolks, sugar, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until yolk mixture has increased in volume and can hold a thick ribbon on surface for at least 2 seconds, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the pods from the cream mixture and discard them. With the whisk beating at medium speed (4 of 10), ladle 1 cup cream mixture in a slow stream into yolk mixture to temper it. Add another cup cream mixture; beat to combine. Pour the egg mixture into the cream mixture; cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and an instant-read thermometer registers 180°F, 5 minutes.
- Pour custard through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl. Let cool completely. Refrigerate for 4-12 hours.
- Freeze custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. (For my Cuisinart, that’s 30 minutes.) Freeze in an airtight plastic container until ready to serve. If frozen for more than 12 hours, you may need to let ice cream stand at room temperature 10-15 minutes before scooping.
Notes
- The condensed milk and honey both help to make the ice cream more scoopable, while having no impact on flavor – except perhaps to deepen the custardy vanilla. If you have leftover condensed milk, it’s great in coffee.
- Egg yolks help to emulsify the ice cream mixture. This contributes primarily to texture, but also to flavor. Many recipes use six yolks per three cups of dairy; eight is quite luxurious. Feel free to experiment.
The Backstory
Most homemade ice creams are good the day you make them, but somewhere between 12 and 24 hours in the freezer, they become absolute bricks. You think at first that you just have to let the ice cream sit out for a few minutes, like you do with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s … but no. It takes so long for them to become scoopable, that you have to wait until they’re practically melting. This one is exactly like Ben and Jerry’s: leave it on the counter for about 10-15 minutes, and it’s still frozen, but soft enough to scoop like a dream.
Social Learning
I’m an academic in my day job, so as you can imagine, I’m generally interested in how things are defined and labeled. I spent a great deal of time deciding whether this recipe produces French vanilla ice cream, or a frozen custard. The answer is yes.
In terms of marketing, it’s not as simple and “yolk” or “no yolk.” A custard must surpass a certain threshold of yolk in order to claim that it’s a custard. Stay under that threshold, and it’s an ice cream. However, any custard can call itself “ice cream” if it wants to, even though no ice cream can call itself a custard! Confusing? You bet! It’s like “ice cream” is used to describe a genus, but also a particular species under that genus.
The answer to my is-this-a-custard question is also yes in as much as “French,” in this context, is a synonym for custard. French-style ice creams are custards.
Premium French Vanilla Ice Cream
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. Thanks, Prosper Circle. References: Fine Cooking (info), Fine Cooking (recipe), Fine Cooking (Jim Peyton), NYT, Spiced, Martha Stewart, Eclipse, Taste.
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You had me at “scoopable no matter how long it’s been frozen.” That is one of my biggest issues – hard ice cream that may have scooped well the first day but turns to granite on the second. I can’t wait to try this, Jeff — and the weather is just perfect for ice cream now!
Well, I hope it proves to be true! It did get hard, but like a normal ice cream would, and ten minutes on the counter seemed to be all it needed.
Good to know. That still makes it so much more appealing than most of the ice creams I have made.
Un gelato delizioso, ne sono golosissima!!!
Thank you!
Vanilla ice cream is everyone’s favourite! Vanilla beans are so expensive these days…bought one last week and it costed me 6 euro. I love that sundae with lemon curd. You are so right about the normal homemade ice cream. I guess this one with condensed milk and lots of cream make the difference.
angiesrecipes recently posted…Heirloom Tomato Salad with Black Olives and Pine Nuts
Wow, that is an expensive vanilla bean!
This sounds absolutely delicious Jeff!!
Gloria+Roa+Baker recently posted…pomegranate and greek yogurt parfait (postre de granadas y yogurt griego)
Thank you!
For health reasons, I don’t eat a lot of ice cream or other sweets. I would gladly have a serving of your ice cream/custard, though. It looks and sounds great.
Thank you … and sorry to hear that!
Ice Cream and Custard in the same post certainly had my attention because I love them both. There are plenty of ice cream options up here in the NE but no custards. We miss them because the Midwest had an assortment of custard choices there. This recipe looks absolutely delicious.
Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t realize that custard is a regional thing.
This looks fabulous. I’m just not a vanilla fan. I do love your ingredients, though, and I really like the part where you can just leave it on the counter to get scoopable!
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Using the best available ingredients always makes a superior product and this ice cream fits the bill. Gorgeous creamy, luscious scoops. Honestly, I’d have to put a lock on the freezer!
A trick I learned a few years ago is to add powdered milk to the mix, apparently, the powdered milk soaks up water and doesn’t allow ice crystals to form making the ice cream creamier, and most likely not a huge ball of ice.
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Ooh, thanks for that tip!
This ice cream looks terrific! I love that it’s rich and creamy yet has a lightness. And of course real vanilla bean makes the difference, too!
Thanks, Ben!
This looks divine! And if I can scoop it the second I take it out of the freezer, so much the better 🙂
Carla Corelli recently posted…The 10 Stages of Healing After Narcissistic Abuse: What to Expect and How to Cope
Thanks, Carla. I wouldn’t say the second you take it out, but I would say after 10 minutes on the countertop.
That is good enough for me 🙂 Thank you Jeff
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This looks terrific! And we’re in high ice cream season around here. (Truth be told, we always have ice cream in the freezer, but always eat more of it in the summer.) Haven’t made ice cream for quite some time — need to get back in the groove with this. Thanks!
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This ice cream looks delicious Jeff! I’ve never made homemade ice cream, and this sounds like the perfect recipe to change that. I completely agree with you about using “vanilla” to describe something ordinary. This ice cream is proof that vanilla is anything but ordinary. I’ve got to try that Lemon Curd Pistachio Sundae with this ice cream, wow!
Shannon recently posted…Crisp Greek Salad
Thanks, Shannon. That lemon curd sundae is one of my favorite things!
Jeff,
I can almost taste this delicious ice cream. French vanilla has always been my favorite. Yum for making your own.
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now that’s interesting that you freeze it in an ice cream maker. Here we think of condensed milk ice cream as being a non-ice cream maker thingy. It generally just goes into the freezer as is. This sounds delightful Jeff.
sherry recently posted…Apricot Turkey Meatloaf – And Don’t Forget The Eggplant
Oh, interesting. Thanks, Sherry!
Ah good vanilla ice cream. This post scratched an itch I didn’t even know was there. I’m on a Greek island and have had no vanilla anything (a staple in my LA life) for a couple of months. This is also one of the first blog I’ve visited in the same amount of time. I wonder if that means I’ve begun to miss my regular life. GREG
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Well, I’m honored! I bet you’re having a fantastic time!
Nothing better than a delicious, creamy vanilla ice cream in hot weather.
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Thanks, MJ!