A Tale of Two Ice Creams

I wanted a basic ice cream base recipe that I could vamp on, and I found exactly what I was looking for here. The base is so easy that even my holey brain can remember it - 3 cups milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 6 egg yolks. Perfect! Or, put another way, 1/4c sugar & 2 yolks to each cup of milk.

Basic Ice Cream

I love this recipe because it's so easy to remember -- two yolks and a quarter-cup of sugar for every cup of dairy. But as long as you stick to the general idea, feel free to switch things up to taste.

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

6 large egg yolks

pinch salt

Special equipment: an ice cream maker, and a heat-proof spoon or, preferably, a heat-proof spatula

1. Heat milk, about half the sugar, half the cream, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring just to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. If steeping for flavor, add your ingredients, take off heat, and cover.

2. Meanwhile, in large-ish bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the other half of the sugar.

3. When the steeping is done, strain or fish out the flavorings and reheat the milk mixture, just until hot. Pour about half of it in a slow stream into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. (This is called tempering the yolks, and it heats them up evenly without turning them into scrambled eggs.) Pour the milk-yolk mixture back into the pot and cook it over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and making sure you're scraping the bottom. Cook it until it's thick enough to coat the back of your spoon: Swipe the spoon with your finger. If it leaves a trail about the width of your finger, it's ready. Don't let it boil.

4. Strain the ice cream base through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl. (The straining catches any bits of egg that may have scrambled; it's kind of optional if you were careful.) Stir in the rest of the cream, and let cool. Cover and chill in fridge until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight. (If you really don't want to wait, dunk the bowl in an ice water bath, stirring, until it's cold.) At this point, you have what they call crème anglaise, a lovely dessert sauce. (If using fruit purees or booze, this would be a good time to stir it in.)

5. Freeze in ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's directions or your preference.

6. If doing a mix-in, chill a large metal bowl in the freezer or set it up in ice water bath. Gently fold in the ingredients to the ice cream in this cold bowl when it's fresh out of the machine.

7. Pack ice cream in an airtight container and let it set in freezer until firm, at least another 4 hours.

Now, I wanted to make a coconut ice cream, so here is what I did:
I poured 1 can of coconut milk into a 4c measuring cup. It was not quite 2 cups. Always buy organic coconut milk, so that it doesn't have sulphur dioxide added. If you can find it not canned, that would be better, as the cans are lined with BPA, which leaches into the fatty liquid. Ugh. Oh, but don't get that coconut milk-substitute that's in the dairy case. Far too processed and too many ingredients. You want full-fat, organic coconut milk, not "lite", sometimes labeled coconut cream. But NOT cream of coconut. Clear as mud? Anyway, to the not-quite-2-cups of coconut milk, I added heavy whipping cream to make 3 cups. I poured half into a saucepan & heated it, adding 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar. I used the 6 egg yolks, a pinch of unrefined sea salt, and about 1/4cup coconut manna. This product may also be labeled "coconut butter". It's the ground up flesh & fat of coconut - think peanut butter, but with coconut. So, I cooked & processed these ingredients according to the recipe above, and it came out absolutely divine!

Now, I also wanted to make an eggless, gelatin-thickened version for my friend who is allergic to eggs. Sadly, I did not make note of where I found the eggless version, so I can't credit it. Sorry. I adapted it liberally, anyway, based on the information in the basic recipe, and on the ingredients I had on hand.

Eggless Gelatin Ice Cream

1 tbsp. (1 envelope) unflavored gelatin

2 tbsp. cold water

2 c. milk

3/4 c. sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

2 c. light cream

2 tsp. vanilla

Soften gelatin in cold water. Scald milk; add gelatin, sugar, and salt. Stir until dissolved. Cool. Add cream and vanilla. Freeze. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

VARIATIONS: Strawberry or raspberry: Combine 2 cups mashed berries with 1/2 cup sugar; add to master recipe just before freezing.

Here is what I did: I poured the can of coconut milk into the measuring cup, and topped up with heavy whipping cream to make 4 cups this time, instead of 3. The extra liquid is making up for the loss of the egg yolks in the original recipe. Dissolved the gelatin, added the pinch of salt, 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar, and again 1/4 cup coconut manna. I forgot to cook only half the milk mixture, and heated it all - not a huge problem, just meant it took longer for the mixture to cool. I whisked it well & strained it while it was still hot. When it was thoroughly cool, I processed it in the ice cream freezer. The freezer motor shut off eventually, but the ice cream was not solidified. It had more of a marshmallow texture, which makes sense, since marshmallows are just gelatin & sugar. I spooned it into a plastic container anyway & froze it. It did freeze hard, but just a couple of minutes at room temp, and it was perfect! 

I had several friends taste-test both versions. Some liked the gelatin version better, because it was a little sweeter, and had a slightly more caramelly taste, but some liked the egg version better, as it was richer and smoother. They were both pretty darned delicious! 

The next variation will be to make it with all coconut milk, to have a dairy-free version. Coconut milk is super-rich, so just a tiny serving should be very satisfying. The one major concern is the BPA from the cans. I would be wary of serving it to children, most especially male children. They really don't need the estrogenic compounds, and their bodies are even more susceptible to contamination than ours. I will be on the lookout for a not-canned organic coconut milk, and will update this post if I find it!

Update: I did make a dairy-free version, and it came out GREAT!
2 cans organic full-fat coconut milk
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
4 Chai Spice tea bags - steeped in the hot milk, before adding the yolk for the custard.