5-Ingredient Vanilla Ice Cream

Well, as always friends, I had the best intentions to blog on Monday. However, the day had other plans. You see, the hubby and I have been having the worst problems with DirecTv. We've been having multiple outages and our box resets every couple of hours. It's been happening more and more often since DirecTv merged with AT&T. Over the weekend, the hubby and I reached our breaking point and scheduled a technician to come out and switch our boxes. And our appointment just happened to be at 8 am yesterday. Prime blogging time for Jessica. I should have known there would be trouble.

I had all 3 boys locked in the den when the DirecTv guy got to our house. Unfortunately, Mariota would not stop barking. All encompassing, non-stop barking. I retrieved him from the den, and took him to his cot, to put him in his "place". His "place" is where he goes for a timeout. Alone time to calm the heck down. Depending on the company, his timeouts can last anywhere from 10 minutes (when the kids are visiting) to an hour (when the hubby's aunt and uncle come to visit). Well, there was something about this technician that Mariota could not stand. He went into full meltdown mode. I put him on his "place" and yet he continued to bark that high-pitched noise that I'm pretty sure drives all the other neighborhood dogs insane. Or calls them to come mating. Ha! In the end, I had to stand next to him the whole time and poke him every time he barked. Which was basically the whole time.

Needless to say, we were both exhausted by the time the technician left and I didn't feel nothing like blogging.

So here I am today! Today we are going to discuss a recipe that I've made at least 20 times this year.

When I asked my brother for an ice cream maker last Christmas, I had no intention of finding a holy-grail recipe that would eventually replace the store-bought vanilla that our family puts on every single birthday and holiday cake. But, I did!  Homemade vanilla ice cream is a revelation if you've only had store-bought. And as an added bonus, this is the easiest ice cream that I make. It requires very little work and just a few ingredients, although I do make mine in an ice cream maker.

If you don't already own an ice cream maker, I highly recommend getting one. Especially if you have kids. When my niece spent the night, we made ice cream and she stood on a kitchen chair, entranced, watching the ice cream maker for the entire 20 minutes it ran. She was amazed that we started off with a liquid mixture that seemed to grow before her eyes. It was a fun experience.

They really aren't that expensive. The one my brother got me was around $60. It's been amazing since day 1, we've never had a problem with it.

A lot of homemade ice creams start on the stove. Making a custard of sorts, or infusing flavors. This ice cream is not one of them, and that's one of my favorite things about it. You start with the milk, sugar, and the tiniest amount of salt.  You do have to whip those together quite vigorously, otherwise you could be crunching on sugar crystals when you eat your ice cream. Ick. I use my stand mixture, and I just let if go for about 5 minutes. I always stick a spoon in the mixture and try it next, just to verify all the sugar was dissolved. From there, you stir in the cream and the vanilla. Cover the bowl, and chill for 2 hours. After 2 hours, you pour it into the ice cream maker, churn for 20 minutes, and you are done! At this point you'll have soft-serve vanilla, but a couple of hours in the freezer will change that. I find it's another 2 hours before the ice cream is hard-set.

Yum! Maraschino cherries are a favorite of mine :-)

Did I ever tell you guys that the hubby used to think that fresh cherries tasted like maraschino? Hehe. One of my favorite stories, the first time I got him to try a "real" cherry. He was amazed. I was amused. Ah, life.

How was everyone's weekend? Not too much happened around here. The hubby and our brother-in-law built my mother-in-law a deck, which turned out freakin' awesome. I headed to my MIL's house on Sunday to check out the final product and was amazed. It looks professional! The MIL definitely has the best looking deck in her neighborhood now.

With the hubby gone most of the weekend, you would think I would have worked on stuff for the blog. Sigh. I did not. I ran, practiced a lot of yoga, and was buried in my book. You know, the one I mentioned a couple of weeks ago? I finally finished it. It was sooooo good. I finished it last night at about 5 pm, with tears steaming down my face. A poignant, beautiful ending that really makes you think hard. I highly recommend it.

Oh yeah, it's called "What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty. Go forth and read my friends! Happy Monday :-)

Recipe courtesy of Cuisinart.

Ingredients (makes 5 cups):
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a bowl, beat milk, sugar, and salt until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). Stir in the cream and the vanilla. Cover bowl, and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
2. Turn on your ice cream maker. Pour chilled contents into the ice cream maker. Allow to churn for 15-20 minutes, or until thickened. Serve immediately for a soft texture, or freeze for another 2 hours for a more traditional texture. Store in freezer.

Printable Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these-

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Dark Chocolate Mint Ice Cream

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesday, Create It Thursday, Thank Goodness It's Thursday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Snickerdoodle Sunday