RECIPE - Southern Style Summer Vanilla Ice Cream - Homemade & Churned

Ingredients with fresh berries - pottery and charm provided by Sandra Heaven and Diane Sharron - local Arley artists who do gorgeous custom pieces and sets. Please see our former blog on these incredible artisans.

The first big ripe juicy blackberries were hanging from the vine last week near our driveway, and we just could not resist.  There weren’t quite enough for a cobbler, a crisp, or a pie; but there was just enough to toss whole onto some fresh homemade vanilla ice cream for a sumptuous summer dessert.  So we got prepared with all the ingredients, and got to the task.
 
This is a recipe that is a variation of about three inherited from different friends. Combining them helped us settle on a recipe that suited our tastes quite well – please feel free to vary as you like (some use ½ & ½ instead of heavy cream, and others even opt to use coconut milk or almond milk instead of regular fat milk - all are good replacements, go ahead and experiment).  

Now this recipe does not call for egg yolks, which makes a heavier, more custard style of vanilla ice cream which we like for colder seasons with pies, but this one is a bit lighter in feel and the fresh light base gives you endless possibilities for making any flavor your heart desires with toppings.  We just happen to love it with fresh berries and fruits.  

Ingredients - pottery and charm provided by Sandra Heaven and Diane Sharron - local Arley artists who do gorgeous clay creations - they design custom pieces and sets. Please see our former blog on these incredible artisans.

INGREDIENTS
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2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 ¼ cups whole milk (not reduced fat)
½ cup white granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
a pinch of salt
2 t pure vanilla extract
optional - add ¼ to ½ t vanilla bean powder (or fresh scraped vanilla bean paste from 1 vanilla bean).  Use your judgment in amount to boost your vanilla flavor to desired level.

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INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large saucepan over medium to lower heat, combine heavy cream, whole milk, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
2. Stir well, dissolving the sugars completely.
3. Allow the heat to distribute through the mixture well by stirring until you see a thin line of froth at the edges of the pan.  Important – do not boil the mixture – it will ruin.
4. Once you notice a thin frothy/foamy line at edges of pan, take off the heat immediately, and place the mixture into a large glass measuring cup bowl with a spout – any heavy glass bowl with a spout should work – for ease of pouring the mixture eventually. 
5. Let the mixture cool only slightly and stir in slowly the vanilla extract and the powder (or fresh scraped vanilla bean paste).  
6. Stir in and dissolve the pinch of salt.
7. Cover this mixture well with plastic wrap, we even float a piece of wrap onto the top of the mixture to avoid any kind of “skin” and then wrap the top of the bowl again in plastic wrap for a double wrap.
8. Refrigerate from 4 hours to overnight – just be sure it is very cold.
9. Remove from fridge and follow the directions on your brand of ice cream maker carefully. A brand that is recommended often is a Cuisinart.
10. After churning the ice cream for about 30 minutes or so (whatever your churn directions advise), pour ice cream into an ice cream container and freeze overnight if you like a hard-packed style ice cream.  We enjoy both the soft-serve texture right out of the churn the 1st night and the frozen version the next night - so we usually do 2 rounds of the recipe.  
11. Serve right away with whole or chopped fresh fruit, like peaches or cantaloupe, or serve with your favorite berries or combination of berries of your liking:  strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or raspberries.  We served ours with whole fresh blackberries and used our spoon to smash and stir them in.  My mother used to take half of whatever berries we had and coarsely chop them, add a little sugar (like a tablespoon to a cup of chopped berries).  She'd softly stir in the sugar, and place that mixture into the refrigerator for an hour or so to marinate and chill.  She'd serve both the marinated with the fresh chopped for a mix of textures with the rich ice cream.  Do whatever you like!  
12. Makes about 6 large servings per recipe, or 8 medium.

Ingredients - pottery and charm provided by Sandra Heaven and Diane Sharron - local Arley artists who do gorgeous clay creations - they design custom pieces and sets. Please see our former blog on these incredible artisans.

Recipe provided by The Hanna Family, 07/4/18.