Vanilla frozen custard

Thick, silky vanilla custard with six egg yolks and very little air — a classic of the American Midwest.

In the US, frozen custard is legally defined as ice cream with at least 1.4 % egg yolk solids. At custard stands it’s frozen in machines that whip in very little air, and it’s served soft, straight from the machine. At home you can get close with a rich custard made with six yolks (about 5 % yolk solids), a shorter churn and serving it soon after churning. The yolks thicken the ice cream, emulsify the fat and give it its typical pale yellow colour and egg custard flavour.

Type: Frozen custard · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 450 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 350 g whipping cream 33 %
  • 25 g skimmed milk powder
  • 120 g egg yolk (6 yolks)
  • 150 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 40 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 3 g vanilla pod (1 pod)

Making the mix

  1. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Heat the milk, cream, milk powder, dextrose, vanilla seeds and pod until almost boiling.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar (or the part of it the recipe specifies) until pale and foamy.
  3. Whisking constantly, pour about a third of the hot milk mixture onto the yolks in a thin stream, then tip everything back into the pan.
  4. Stir over a low heat with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens and reaches 82–84 °C (it coats the spoon and a line drawn with your finger holds). Don’t let it boil, or the yolks will curdle.
  5. Immediately strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl set in iced water.
  6. Cool the custard, stirring now and then, press cling film directly onto the surface and age in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix no higher than the fill line (with a smaller bowl, churn in two batches) and churn for 25–35 minutes, until it is thick and glossy and holds its shape like soft-serve.
  3. Transfer to a chilled container, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for an hour.

Frozen custard should contain very little air. Churn only until it is thick and glossy, no longer — a long churn just beats in unnecessary air.

Total time: 6 h 35 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix — no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the ice cream thickens. There’s no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for an hour.

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: 6 h 30 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Divide the chilled mix between CREAMi tubs, filling each no higher than the MAX line (a full batch makes about two standard tubs).
  2. Put the lids on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  3. Place a tub in the machine and run the Gelato program.
  4. If the ice cream is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).

Programme: Gelato

Only some models (such as the Deluxe range) have a Gelato program. If yours doesn’t, use the Ice Cream program. A standard tub holds about 470 ml, a Deluxe tub about 700 ml. Don’t fill above the MAX line, and freeze it level — the machine doesn’t handle an uneven block well.

Total time: 29 h 10 min

Stages

Preparation
15 min
Cooking
20 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
4 h
Churning
30 min
Hardening in the freezer
1 h
Total time
6 h 35 min

Serving and storage

Frozen custard is best soft, at −8 to −12 °C — ideally right after a short hardening. If it comes from the freezer, let it soften in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Up to a week in a sealed container with cling film on the surface. Thanks to the yolks it stays smooth longer than egg-free ice cream, but it’s best on the day it’s made.

Tips

  • Don’t throw away the egg whites — freeze them and use them for meringues, sorbet or an omelette.
  • A thermometer pays off with custard: below 80 °C it won’t thicken and isn’t safely heated; above 85 °C the yolks start to curdle.
  • If the custard does curdle a little, pour it straight into a cold bowl and blitz with a stick blender — the small lumps will disappear.
  • Frozen custard tastes best fresh. Time it so you can serve it 1–2 hours after churning.

Why it works

Egg yolk is half water; the rest is mainly fat and proteins, including lecithin. Lecithin and lipoproteins settle on the surface of the fat globules and help build a fine structure during freezing. At 82–84 °C the proteins thicken and bind water. The result is denser and melts more slowly — which is why custard can be served slightly warmer.

Sources