Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I am a huge fan of the Kitchen Aide brand of mixers and have collected a number of attachments for it. My latest purchase was the Ice Cream maker. It was good timing because we've been having a bit of a heat wave. Being a novice ice cream maker I was nervous about how this would end up. I did a little research and found that there are two types of ice cream. The first is the "French" style which is custard based and the second is "Philadelphia" style which is pretty much cream and sugar. I decided I would start simple and go for "Philadelphia" style. We found Vanilla Beans in our local grocery store so I was set to make Vanilla Bean ice cream. I adapted the recipe from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop". The book is great and has a huge selection of sweet treats to make. 
I didn't read all the directions for the Ice Cream maker before I started so the situation was a little out of control for a minute or two. From my small sample size I realized that making ice cream is about preparation and execution. It takes a long time to get up and running but I think the finished product was worth it. It was easily the best ice cream I've ever eaten. One of the first taste testers even validated the name of my blog by promptly dribbling ice cream down the front of his shirt. Vanilla went from the bottom of my desired list of ice cream flavors straight to the top in the time it took to get a spoon from the bowl to my mouth. I made about a litre of ice cream and it lasted about 48hrs. We ate it as straight ice cream, ice cream with Bailey's and used the last bit in a fruit smoothie. I am going to try to make a different ice cream on a weekly basis.



Ingredients:

• 3 cups Whipping Cream
• 3/4 cup white Sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 Vanilla Bean
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

 Directions:

Pour one cup of the cream into a sauce pan. Add the sugar and salt. Split the bean lengthwise then scrape the seeds into the pot. Add the vanilla pod then heat on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved (it will look almost clear).

Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and remaining cream. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to churn. Before you churn it in an ice cream maker remove the pod, clean and save for later.