French vanilla ice cream (with egg yolks)
A French-style classic: vanilla custard made from egg yolks, milk and cream. Smooth, rich and fragrant.
The base from which most cream ice creams are built. The yolks thicken and emulsify the mix, so the ice cream is smooth even without stabilisers. Some of the sugar is replaced with dextrose, which keeps the ice cream softer straight from the freezer.
Type: Classic cream ice cream · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Moderate
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 g whole milk 3.5 %
- 300 g whipping cream 33 %
- 30 g skimmed milk powder (more milk solids = denser ice cream)
- 100 g egg yolk (5 yolks)
- 130 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
- 40 g dextrose (glucose powder)
- 3 g vanilla pod (1 pod)
Making the mix
- Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Heat the milk, cream, milk powder, vanilla seeds and pod in a pan until almost boiling.
- Whisk the yolks with the sugar and dextrose until pale and foamy.
- Whisking constantly, pour about a third of the hot milk onto the yolks in a thin stream, then tip everything back into the pan.
- Stir over a low heat with a wooden spoon until the mix thickens and reaches 82–84 °C (the custard coats the spoon and a line drawn with your finger holds). Don’t let it boil, or the yolks will curdle.
- Strain the custard into a bowl set in iced water and let it cool, stirring now and then.
- Press cling film directly onto the surface and age in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Remove the pod.
Method — Compressor ice cream maker
- Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
- Pour in the chilled mix (no higher than the fill line) and churn for 30–40 minutes, until the ice cream has the consistency of thick whipped cream.
- Transfer to a chilled container, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 2 hours.
Total time: 7 h 35 min
Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker
- Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
- With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix — no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
- Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the ice cream thickens. There’s no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
- Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for 3 hours.
Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours beforehand (until you can no longer hear the coolant sloshing inside). The mix must be thoroughly chilled.
Total time: 8 h 25 min
Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines
- Pour the chilled mix into a CREAMi tub up to the MAX line, put the lid on and freeze level for 24 hours.
- Place the tub in the machine and run the Ice Cream program.
- If the ice cream is crumbly, run Re-spin (many users add a tablespoon of milk first).
Programme: Ice Cream
Total time: 29 h 5 min
Method — No-machine method
- Pour the chilled mix into a deep metal or glass container (a baking dish, for example) and put it in the freezer.
- After 45 minutes, stir the mix thoroughly with a whisk or stick blender, working the frozen edges into the centre.
- Repeat every 30 minutes, 4–5 times in all, until the ice cream is thick and smooth.
- Leave to harden for another hour.
Without a machine you get more ice crystals and less air — the ice cream is denser. Every stir breaks up the crystals.
Total time: 9 h
Stages
- Preparation
- 15 min
- Cooking
- 15 min
- Cooling
- 30 min
- Ageing in the fridge
- 4 h
- Churning
- 35 min
- Hardening in the freezer
- 2 h
- Total time
- 7 h 35 min
Serving and storage
Take it out of the freezer (−18 °C) and let it stand for 5–10 minutes until it scoops easily.
In a sealed container with cling film on the surface it’s best within a week; after that, ice crystals start to build up.