"Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (17)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(17)

Cook Time:
--
Level:
--
Yield:
1 quart

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Ingredients

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons peach preserves (not jelly)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Directions

Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp) in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Attach a frying or candy thermometer to inside of pan. (see note below) Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the hull of the vanilla bean, pour mixture into lidded container and refrigerate mixture overnight to mellow flavors and texture. Freeze mixture in ice cream freezer according to units instructions. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine. Once the volume has increased by 1/2 to 3/4 times, and reached a soft serve consistency, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

NOTE: If you do not have a thermometer, bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. As soon as you see a bubble hit the surface, remove it from the heat. Do not let it boil.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream
Keith Atlanta, GA 02-01-2010
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Wonderful vanilla
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This egg-less vanilla with the vanilla bean specks might remind you of Breyers All Natural -- it has that delicious, clean... and bright vanilla flavor. I made it without the peach preserves, and I substituted 2 cups of 2% milk for the half-n-half but still "spiked" it with 1 cup of light cream. This cuts out a lot of the fat and calories but you still end up with a very smooth and rich texture. Also, for every 1 cup of sugar in ANY ice cream recipe, I substitute 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup Splenda. Turns out wonderfully every time, and you would NEVER know the difference.Read more
recipe "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream
Barbara Kennesaw, GA 06-29-2008
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"The Ultimate Ice Cream"
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Incredible flavor, the best I have EVER made. Alton does it again!! Soooo simple. Everyone can do this...recipe is... wonderful, very hard to mess up with this. (just let it set overnight...be patient!)Read more
recipe "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream
pete narberth, PA 04-22-2008
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Quite good.
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

The flavor is tremendously good and cannot even be compared to grocery store ice cream. Well worth the effort. I add a... little vodka to prevent it from solidifying too much.Read more
recipe "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream
Roger Eugene, OR 09-01-2007
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Great show on ice cream...
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Explains exactly how to make ice cream! Only thing, I prefer, is a 2:1 ratio of cream:whole milk. Oh, and one whole... vanilla bean to a 2 cups cream to 1 cup milk ratio. ;-) (Basically though, Half & Half is just half whipping cream & half whole milk.) I pretty much have used Emeril's coffee ice cream is a base for all my ice creams.Read more
recipe "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream
Shari Bothell, WA 06-29-2007
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Easy wonderful ice cream
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I make this all the time as it's my favorite ice cream recipe. I don't always add the peach preserves.
recipe "Serious" Vanilla Ice Cream
beth Valley Glen, CA 04-15-2007
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:(
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

We're serious AB lovers around here and I'm willing to try just about anything he makes. The thing is, I could not get... this ice cream to freeze. Period. After all my problems I read the reviews and saw that the another person had issues with this setting up. Like me, she uses the ice cream attachment for her Kitchen Aid. I ran the ice cream maker for about an hour, hoping that *something* would happen. There was no increase in volume. And frankly, it didn't even seem to want to freeze at the edges of the bowl or at the very bottom. The ice cream bowl was sufficiently frozen, so I know that's not the issue. I have made other "custard based" ice creams, including using AB's other recipes, with great success. I'll just have to chalk this one up to experience.Read more