Here's some of mine, as Dew promised:
Chocolate Ice Cream
makes 3-4 quarts
1 cup cocoa powder
6 cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
16 egg yolks
3 cups sugar
4 tsp vanilla
In a large sauce pan combine cocoa and one cup of half and half. Stir to combine then add rest of half and half and cream.
Scald the cream mixture (heat it just until you see bubbles forming at the edges), remove from heat.
In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar to combine.
Temper the egg yolks by slowly adding the hot cream, a few drops at a time, stirring constantly. Once you have whisked in about 2/3 of the hot cream into egg mixture, add all of the egg back into the sauce pan.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thermometer reads 170-175 or mixture is thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Pour custard into a container and allow to cool at room temperature. Stir in the vanilla and continue cooling.
Once room temperature, place covered into the fridge and chill several hours or overnight.
Process in your ice cream maker according to the instructions.
Freeze ice cream for several hours until hard.
French Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
16 large eggs yolks
1-1/2 cup sugar
6 cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch of fine salt
2 T vanilla
Directions
In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together the yolks and half of the sugar.
In a non-reactive saucepan combine the cream, 4 cups of the half and half, the remaining sugar, and the salt.
Heat the cream over medium-high heat until scalded (bubbles forming around the edges). Remove from the heat. Gradually pour the hot liquid into the yolks, while whisking constantly. Return the cream-egg mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring the mixture constantly, with a wooden spoon in a figure-8 motion, until thickened, about 10 minutes. When the ice cream mixture is properly cooked it should coat the back of a spoon (170-175), be satiny thick, and be free of any bubbles on the surface. (If you taste the ice cream base it should have a slight egg-y taste.) When thickened, pour in the reserved milk to prevent the mixture from overcooking. Add the vanilla and stir.
Pour into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place into fridge until chilled (overnight). Freeze the base in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Take care not to over churn the ice cream or it will get a grainy texture.) Transfer the ice cream to the freezer to set up for at least 1 hour. Serve.
Mint Chocolate Chip
Ingredients
16 large eggs yolks
1-1/2 cup sugar
6 cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch of fine salt
1 T Mint extract (more or less to taste)
2 T Green food coloring (more or less as desired)
1 Pound chocolate chips (semi-sweet is best)
1 T vanilla
Directions
In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together the yolks and half of the sugar.
In a non-reactive saucepan combine the cream, 4 cups of the half and half, the remaining sugar, and the salt.
Heat the cream over medium-high heat until scalded (bubbles forming around the edges). Remove from the heat. Gradually pour the hot liquid into the yolks, while whisking constantly. Return the cream-egg mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring the mixture constantly, with a wooden spoon in a figure-8 motion, until thickened, about 10 minutes. When the ice cream mixture is properly cooked it should coat the back of a spoon (170-175), be satiny thick, and be free of any bubbles on the surface. (If you taste the ice cream base it should have a slight egg-y taste.) When thickened, pour in the reserved milk to prevent the mixture from overcooking. Add the vanilla, mint extract and stir.
Pour into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place into fridge until chilled (overnight). Once chilled, add food coloring and stir gently until combined. Freeze the base in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. (Take care not to over churn the ice cream or it will get a grainy texture.) Once churned, add chocolate chips and mix well.
Transfer the ice cream to the freezer to set up for at least 1 hour. Serve.
As you can see, most ice cream starts out the same way, with a good custard base. Flavorings are usually added after the custard has thickened. Any hard ingredients, such as chocolate chips, marshmallows, almonds etc, are added just after churning.
For French Vanilla chocolate chip, add chocolate chips after churning. Want Strawberry? Omit 1/2 of the Vanilla in the french vanilla recipe and add chopped strawberries after churning (If you want red strawberry ice cream, add 2 T red food coloring after thickening.
Some important tips:
Don't let the cream come to a boil. It changes the taste a lot.
Add the hot cream to the egg mixture very, very slowly! If you add it too fast, the eggs will curdle and you will have scrambled egg ice cream!
Don't over churn the ice cream. If you do, it will have a grainy texture.
Cover the ice cream with plastic wrap laid directly onto the mix, with all bubbles removed. Otherwise, it may form a "skin" as it cools.
Homemade ice cream gets rock hard when completely frozen. Plan accordingly.
