Vanilla Bean Ice cream with Bourbon
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 pints 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: New American
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise and seeds scraped out)
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1–2 Tbsp bourbon
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium pot, mix the milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Warm the mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.
- Stir in the vanilla seeds and the split bean. Cover, remove from the heat, and let sit for at least 1 hour.
- As the hour is nearing an end, prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with several inches of ice water. Set a smaller metal bowl in the ice water. Add the cream into the inner bowl (to help the mixture cool quicker!).
- Rewarm the milk on medium heat until tiny bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pot. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl.
- Once the milk is hot again, pour half of the mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling.
- Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan and whisk. Cook on low heat while whisking constantly until temp is 175°F. Immediately strain the custard into the bowl with cream in the ice bath. (the strainer will catch the vanilla bean)
- Add vanilla extract and cool the custard to below 70°F by stirring occasionally in the ice bath.
- Once cooled, add the mixture to your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Add in bourbon at the end when it beeps for add-ins.
Notes
I used 1 Tbsp. bourbon and I thought it was plenty, but if you want a stronger flavor you could double it.
if you don’t have a thermometer, remove the mixture from heat once the liquid coats the back of a spatula.