Lower Fat Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Circle B Kitchen

This really is some incredibly good ice cream, and the fact that there's no actual cream involved will not be noticed by anyone. You can even sub out 1 cup of the half and half for whole milk if you'd like to reduce the fat even further. I usually use vanilla sugar to increase the vanilla presence, but you can also add a little pure vanilla extract if you'd like.

3 cups half and half

3 egg yolks

2/3 to 3/4 cups sugar (I use vanilla sugar)

1/8 tsp salt

1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped

Bring the half and half, sugar, salt, the vanilla from the beans, and the vanilla beans to a boil. Whisk the egg yolks together.

Once the cream mixture has come to a rolling boil, turn off the heat. Take 1 cup of the hot cream mixture and stream it slowly into the yolks, whisking.

Slowly pour the egg-cream mixture back into the saucepan. Whisk. Turn the flame on low and cook until the base thickens slightly, about 2 to 3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook, as the mixture will curdle.(I sometimes add a little more vanilla extract at this point).

Chill the mixture for 2-3 hours.

Once chilled, pour the ice cream base into your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer's instructions.

If you want to make more or less ice cream, the rule of thumb here is one egg yolk and a scant 1/4 cup sugar for each cup of dairy.