So, Ash and I did a thing a couple of weeks ago. We made our first quarts of homemade ice cream—vanilla bean with raspberry and lemon curd. And honestly, it was so good and fun to make. For quite some time now, Ash has been saying that when he grows up, he wants to be a chef. And he hasn’t wavered from it. Back last year, when there was the crazy social media debate on whether or not it was “an acceptable” idea to buy little boys toy kitchens, I kept meaning to weigh in (via a blog post) because I had already ordered Ash a fancy schmancy, very modern wooden kitchen playset from Crate and Barrel. And my mother had him a chef hat and apron monogrammed. He played (and still occasionally plays) on the playset, but it was obvious that he preferred to be in the kitchen cracking real eggs and mixing up stuff in real pots and pans.
So, one day, I was browsing and came across this recipe for ice cream. It seemed like it would be good and easy enough to make, except I did not have an ice cream maker. I remember my mom making ice cream when I was a little girl in a big, silver, cumbersome machine that required ice and a lot of cranking of a handle.
I was about to buy an “ice cream machine” until I saw the attachment. Did you know that KitchenAid has an ice cream maker attachment? Because I did not know anything like it existed. Of course, it is only exciting news if you already have a KitchenAid stand mixer, which I have had for a while because, at one time, I was heavy into baking pound cakes and such. The ice cream maker attachment was so easy to use. It required freezing the ice cream bowl for almost a full day at below zero temperatures before delving into any ice cream recipes, but there was nothing complicated about using it, so I am happy with my purchase. The bowl is currently being stored in the freezer so that we can now make ice cream any time without delay.
I ordered a couple of Tovolo ice cream tubs from Amazon, which were perfect. As for ingredients, I used the Whole Foods brand (365 Market Pantry) butter shortbread cookies. The lemon curd was from Harry and David. The rest is pretty straightforward.
Here we are in the middle of summer’s heat, trying to keep cool. So, if you are looking for a fun, delicious ice cream recipe for the mission, I promise I have found it for you! As you can see, it was so good that once we layered our churned cream, curd, jam, and crumbled cookies in our tubs and put them in the freezer to set, Ash was scraping ice cream off the sides of the bowl! Your turn–enjoy!
Ingredients
- Ice Cream Ingredients:
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
- 6 ounces lemon curd
- ½ cup shortbread cookies, crushed
- Raspberry Jam Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoon lemon juice
- Small pinch of salt
Directions
- For ice cream base, add egg yolks and ¼ cup of the sugar to a medium bowl and whisk until pale yellow and combined.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, heavy cream, salt, and remaining ¾ cup sugar over medium-low heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and let the mixture just come to a simmer.
- Slowly add the milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly to temper the yolk mixture. Once combined, return to the saucepan over medium-low heat and cook until temperature reaches approximately 165°F or the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Strain mixture into an airtight container; stir in vanilla bean paste and chill in the refrigerator for 2–3 hours.
- For raspberry jam, add raspberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt to a small skillet and lightly mash the raspberries. Let it sit for 5 minutes for the juices to release.
- Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often to avoid burning. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Once ice cream base is chilled, churn in an ice cream machine, according to manufacturer’s instructions. In a 2.5-quart airtight container, layer 1/4 of the churned ice cream, top with a few tablespoons of jam, lemon curd and a sprinkle of crushed shortbread cookies. Repeat layering 3 times, ending with the jam, curd and cookie crumbs. Place in the freezer for 6 hours to overnight until set.
