Ultimate vanilla ice cream

Ultimate vanilla ice cream

Is Angela Nilsen's vanilla ice cream the smoothest, creamiest homemade ice cream in history?

Difficulty and servings

Easy

8 big scoops

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in about 2 hours

Freezable

Method

  1. Put the canister from the machine into the freezer a day before you want to make the ice cream. Next day, pour the cream and milk into a medium heavy-based pan, then tip in half the sugar. Slit the vanilla pod down its length with a small sharp knife and scoop out as many of the tiny black seeds as you can into the cream mixture. Cut the pod into three and drop it into the pan.
  2. Heat the cream and milk over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until it almost boils - you'll see a few bubbles at the edge. Take off the heat and set aside for 30 minutes so the vanilla can infuse.
  3. Put the egg yolks into a bowl with the rest of the sugar and beat with an electric hand beater for about 2 minutes until the mixture has thickened, is paler in colour and falls in thick ribbons when you lift the beaters. Using a measuring jug, scoop out about 125ml/4fl oz of the cream mixture and beat into the egg yolks to slacken them. Reheat the cream until it just comes to the boil, take off the heat and stir in the egg yolk mixture.
  4. Return the pan to a low heat and cook, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, for 8-10 minutes, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Watch that it doesn't boil - as soon as you see any bubbles about to burst to the surface, it should be thick enough, so take the pan off the heat so the mixture doesn't curdle.
  5. Pour the custard into a heatproof bowl, then sit it in a bigger bowl one third full of iced water to cool (this takes about 20 minutes). Stir occasionally to stop a skin forming. Put the bowl of custard in the fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight, so it gets really cold.
  6. Get the ice cream machine running, scoop out the vanilla pod pieces, then slowly pour in the cold custard. Leave it to churn for 10-30 minutes (depending on your machine). When it stops, it is probably too soft to eat, so spoon into a plastic container, cover with cling film, then a lid, and freeze for a minimum of 3 hours. (It will keep in the freezer for 3 months but don't take it out, then refreeze.) Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.
  7. To make it by hand: in step 1, heat the milk, vanilla, and half the sugar without the cream (the custard will be slightly thicker). At the start of step 6, whip the cream so it's light and floppy, not too stiff, and fold it into the cold custard. Freeze for 3-4 hours, stirring once an hour until almost frozen, then freeze as above.

Per scoop

269 kcalories, protein 3g, carbohydrate 18g, fat 21 g, saturated fat 12g, fibre 0g, sugar 15g, salt 0.1 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, July 2003.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo varkyrie

    15 February 2008

    varkyrie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I love this icecream!

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  • Binder photo kipperelli

    09 August 2008

    kipperelli rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is lovely just as icecream should be dead simple and dead creamy. I've just made another batch and melted some chocolate into it before churning gorgeous

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  • Binder photo casper

    17 November 2008

    casper commented on this recipe

    I omitted the cream, so the custard can be made in advance and sit in the fridge improving for several days. When I feel like an icecream it can now be made in short order, just whip up the cream and churn with the custard. Another tip is to torch some sugar on a disposable foil plate: 4tbsp of broken brulee sugar stirred in at the end makes a cracker Creme Brulee ice cream

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  • Binder photo Justine

    26 March 2009

    Justine commented on this recipe

    Absolutely adore this recipe! So gorgeously creamy. Try serving it without churning as an ultra rich custard.

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  • Binder photo gcsefood

    20 May 2009

    gcsefood commented on this recipe

    very milky!!!!!!!! quite nice though :)

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  • Binder photo janet

    23 May 2009

    janet commented on this recipe

    Beautiful, see chocolate ice cream recipe also

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  • Binder photo CloClo

    03 June 2009

    CloClo rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    Made this quite a while ago, but struggled to find the recipe on here. We found it an extremly easy recipe, and reasonably smooth results. However, the flavour was a little watery. That said, we will be experiments and reporting back!

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  • Binder photo Wilhelmina =]

    19 June 2009

    Wilhelmina =] commented on this recipe

    i just made it last night...for the first time ever for me,the custard didn't curdle..=]=] it's perfect and i'm just waiting for it to freeze now:D

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  • Binder photo Wilhelmina =]

    19 June 2009

    Wilhelmina =] rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Mary

    21 June 2009

    Mary rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I'm just making it now. It looks fabulous but I wish the recipe had mentioned the 3 or 4 hours in the fridge or overnight in the cooking/preparing time. I'm looking forward to it with strawberries!

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  • Binder photo PanClanger

    10 July 2009

    PanClanger rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Simply stunning. Creamy, sweet and utterly delicious. I made it by hand as I don't have the spare money or space for an ice cream machine, and the texture was perfect. It is quite easily the best ice cream I have ever tasted, and I know exactly what's in it.

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  • Binder photo mimi

    28 July 2009

    mimi commented on this recipe

    Amazing creamiest vanilla icecream ever! Wonderful

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  • Binder photo mimi

    28 July 2009

    mimi rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Warren Lloyd Frost

    03 September 2009

    Warren Lloyd Frost commented on this recipe

    Does one have the same success mixing this recipe by hand,i would really love to make this for my guests on the weekend,and i have no ice cream machine.

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  • Binder photo hello food!!!

    06 January 2010

    hello food!!! rated this recipe

    3 stars

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  • Binder photo HelloKnitty

    28 February 2010

    HelloKnitty rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Mum2be

    12 August 2010

    Mum2be commented on this recipe

    Is this recipe safe for pregnancy? I've been told you shouldnt eat partially cooked eggs when pregnant and so am a little concerned. If this recipe isn't safe could you reccommend an alternative recipe for ice cream which may not use eggs?

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  • Binder photo milissafrances123

    10 September 2010

    milissafrances123 commented on this recipe

    i'm sure this recipe would have been lovely....if it didnt wait until the last step to tell you an alternative method if you dont have a machine by which point i have already done the first few steps, which was really really frustrating!!!

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  • Binder photo Wilma

    04 February 2011

    Wilma rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This ice cream is gorgeous.

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  • Binder photo cjnidge

    18 May 2011

    cjnidge rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe is a little time consuming but totally worth it! I've had so many compliments for this ice cream, so utterly delicious!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

8 big scoops

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in about 2 hours

Freezable

Ingredients

  • 284ml carton double cream
  • 300ml full fat milk
  • 115g golden caster sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 3 large free-range egg yolks
  • have lots of ice cubes at the ready
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Per scoop

269 kcalories, protein 3g, carbohydrate 18g, fat 21 g, saturated fat 12g, fibre 0g, sugar 15g, salt 0.1 g

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