This Ain't BC

for seascribe. Because everyone should know how to make their own ice cream, it is seriously ridiculously easy so long as you have decent eggs.

Custard:

• 1 whole egg + 5 egg yolks
• scant 1 cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 heaping tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• 1 ½ cups cream (if you don’t have cream, use half and half, and you can stretch whatever you do have by adding milk–just be aware that it will be less…creamy, and more likely to form ice crystals)
• touch of butter (optional)
• 3 TBS whiskey of your choice
• ceramic bowl

Beat sugar, salt, and cornstarch into egg yolks until mixture turns pale yellow and forms a ribbon when beater/whisk is lifted out of bowl.

Meanwhile, slowly raise milk and cream to boiling in saucepan. Gradually pour onto yolk mixture, whisking constantly. 

Pour back into saucepan and set on medium-high heat. Raise to boil, beating constantly–be sure to scrape the entire bottom of the pan! Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat; add butter to prevent a “skin” from forming, and beat in whiskey.

Pour into ceramic bowl, cover, and place in ice bath or fridge until cools to approximately room temperature. Once reaches room temp, place in freezer for 45 min-1 hr.

Caramel: (make while custard is in fridge)

• ¼ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar*
• 4 TBS butter
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 TBS cream (if you don’t have enough cream, use milk + butter)

*You don’t have to use half brown sugar; I do because I like the flavor and the darker color it results in.

Melt sugar in dry saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring as little as possible. Once reaches a copper-y color, remove from heat and add butter, salt, and cream. Return to stove at medium heat and bring to simmer. Continue to cook until turns a few shades darker. Remove from heat. (You can also add a tsp or so of maple syrup at this point, as I did.) 

Pour onto baking sheet lined w parchment paper and allow to cool. 

Ice cream:

Remove custard from freezer and beat until any frozen chunks that have formed disappear. Drizzle custard in spiral pattern over custard and return to freezer for half hour-45 min. 

Repeat beating-freezing procedure until reaches the consistency of soft serve ice cream, at which point you can simply leave it in the freezer until you’re ready to eat it!

Custard recipe adapted from Julia Childe and my grandma, caramel recipe adapted from smitten kitchen.

SIDENOTE: this makes a lot of custard. Like, a lot. As in almost three cups. I’ve just written it out as-is here, but if you’re only making it for yourself you can totally halve or third or even quarter it.