Ingredients Heavy whipping cream 2 cups Half-and-half cream 2 cups White sugar 3/4 cup Vanilla extract 1 tablespoon Instructions In a large bowl, combine the heavy cream and the half and half. Gradually whisk in the sugar until blended. Whisk in the vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, until very cold, at least 3 hours or as long as 3 days. Whisk the mixture to blend and pour into the canister of an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer's directions. Eat at once or transfer to a covered container and freeze up to 8 hours. Texture Tips Many people experience problems with their homemade ice cream becoming grainy or full of unpleasant ice crystals. Luckily, there are two easy and effective steps you can take to improve the texture of every batch of ice cream. The first is to heat the milk or half-and-half to a gentle simmer, or approximately 175 degrees F (79 degrees C), before using it in your recipe. This step will be automatic if you're making a custard style ice cream, since you need to cook the mixture anyway, but any milk or half-and-half (no need to heat heavy cream, yogurt or sour cream) that goes into Philadelphia style ice cream will create much smoother ice cream after it has been scalded. The second thing you should do with your ice cream mixture is to "age" it in the refrigerator for at least four hours, but up to 24 hours. A mixture that has been aged will result in ice cream with a smooth and full-bodied texture. |
