Homemade ice-cream is super creamy, custard-like and richer than store-bought. Use this recipe for a base and try with any flavours you like.
Ingredients
Method
Vanilla ice-cream
1.Scrape seeds from beans into medium saucepan. Add pods with milk and cream; bring just to a boil.
2.Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl until creamy. Gradually whisk into hot milk mixture; stir over low heat, without boiling, until mixture thickens slightly.
3.Strain mixture into large jug or bowl; press plastic wrap over surface of custard; cool, then refrigerate 1 hour or until cold.
4.Pour mixture into an ice-cream maker, then churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Or, transfer the mixture to a shallow cake pan, cover with foil and freeze until almost firm. Place ice-cream in large bowl; chop coarsely. Beat ice-cream with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into deep cake pan; freeze until firm. Repeat twice.
Strawberry
5.Blend or process 250g strawberries until smooth. Stir in at the end of step 3.
Chocolate malt
6.Open a small section of one end of 165g packet of chocolate-covered malt balls; use a rolling pin to crush coarsely. Stir in at the end of step 3 with ¼ cup malted milk powder.
Banana, maple and macadamia
7.Stir in 1 cup roasted coarsely chopped macadamias, 2 coarsely chopped medium bananas and ¼ cup pure maple syrup at the end of step 3.
Pistachio praline topping
8.Preheat oven to hot (220°C/200°C fan-forced). Sprinkle ¼ cup caster sugar evenly over baking-paper-lined oven tray, then place in oven about 8 minutes or until sugar just becomes a light golden-brown toffee. Remove from oven; sprinkle 1 tablespoon roasted coarsely chopped shelled pistachios over hot toffee. Cool completely, then break the praline into bits. Blend or process until praline pieces resemble breadcrumbs. Serve spooned over vanilla ice-cream. MIXED BERRY SAUCE TOPPING Stir ½ cup cream and ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar in medium saucepan over heat until sugar dissolves. Add 1 cup frozen mixed berries; cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before spooning over vanilla ice-cream.
Rocky road topping
9.Combine 2 coarsely chopped 55g Cherry Ripe bars in medium bowl with 50g baby marshmallows and 2 tablespoons crushed roasted peanuts. Serve spooned over vanilla ice-cream; drizzle with ¼ cup chocolate Ice Magic.
A tip taught at technical college to aspiring chefs, which may contradict many ice-cream maker manuals, is not to chill the maker ahead of churning. Instead pour the chilled mixture into the ice-cream maker and then turn it on. This gives a much more even result, as the mixture doesn’t prematurely stick to the sides of the icecream maker.
It’s best to freeze ice-cream as quickly as possible. To do this use, use a metal cake pan or two (plastic will not freeze ice-cream quickly) and cover the pans with foil.
All the topping recipes will serve four people.
Note
