Vanilla ice cream yogurt
by admin on July 27, 2010
I’m totally smitten with my new
ice cream machine. It’s probably my best
unnecessary necessary purchase of the year. That and the chipping piece of door frame the ice cream is sat on, which cost me about the same as the machine and ironically I found at a store called
Junk. Silly me for thinking that a Junk shop might actually be cheap. But enough of the vintage junk- back to the ice cream, which is anything but junk. It’s vanilla ice cream deliciousness and just about the only appropriate thing to eat when even toasting bread makes you break into a sweat.
I’ve have gotten into this habit where I mix my store-bought ice cream with Greek yogurt to make the sweetness a little less abrasive. So I wanted to create something that like that here. A cross between rich vanilla ice cream and Greek yogurt- slightly tangy, creamy….just like mixing some plain yogurt into your scoop of vanilla.
So the process- I started with a traditional custard base, but using less egg yolks and a little cornstarch (corn flour in the UK) to make the custard thicken. I used a pure cane sugar (golden caster), which is less refined and has a gorgeous light molasses flavor and fresh vanilla beans. Now, if I was a millionaire, I would use fresh vanilla pods in everything- but being that I’m a few dollars, pounds and euros shy of a seven-O bank account, I have come to accept that with most things a good vanilla extract does the trick well enough. However, with ice cream I love the little specs of vanilla bean that give it a gentle polka dotted look just too much to be stingy. That said, if you omit them, you’ll be churning up batches of ice cream for pennies.
There’s slightly less than half the amount of sugar in here that you’ll find in Häagen Daaz and Ben and Jerrys- about 14g per serving but instead of something rich and creamy this is much lighter, ever so slightly tart and just begging for some crushed almonds raspberry puree to be drizzled over the top. You wait, it will be begging you too. And whilst your giving in to almonds and berries you may as well serve it on an expensive piece of junky wood too.
Because of it’s low fat nature of this ice cream it is best served on the day that it is churned before it sets too hard. Alternatively if you do serve it a couple of days later, allow it to sit in the fridge a slightly soften for an hour- an hour and a half before serving.
Makes 3 cups
500ml/2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla pod
2 egg yolks
50g/1/4 cup pure cane sugar (golden caster sugar)
1 Tbsp corn starch (cornflour UK)
200g/1 cup Greek yogurt (0% is fine)
• Slice the vanilla pod down the middle length-ways. Place in a medium-sized saucepan with the milk and over a medium heat bring the milk up to scalding point. This is not boiling- as soon as you start seeing little bubbles forming around the side of the pan turn of the heat. Allow the milk to sit and infuse the vanilla for 10 minutes.
• Remove the vanilla pod from the milk and use the blunt side of a knife to scrape the seeds out from each side of the pod. Stir the seeds back into the milk and discard the pod. Or leave it to dry out and then place in a sugar jar for vanilla sugar.
• In a medium-large bowl beat together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch with a wooden spoon until fully combined and thick. Slowly pour in the hot milk whilst you stir with the other hand.
• Return the mixture to the milk pan and over a gentle heat stir the mixture until you have the consistency of thin custard. the mixture should coat and stick the back your wooden spoon when it’s complete. Do not be tempted to walk away from the pan or turn up the heat or you will end up with scrambled eggs!
• Once you reach this stage, remove the pan from the heat and pour back into your bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and chill completely. Once cool whisk your yogurt until completely smooth and then stir into the custard.
• Set up your ice cream machine and pour the mixture in. Churn until thick then store in a sealed plastic container in the freezer.
Tagged as:
healthy,
Ice cream,
low sugar,
recipe
