Easy Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

No picture, y'all know what vanilla ice cream looks like :p

Lots of recipes call for egg yolks and looked a little too complicated for my first batch of ice cream, but then I came across a recipe by Alton Brown and it looked simple enough.

Hubsters prefers soft serve ice cream over hard serve, so we figured we would try it just after churning before it had time to harden in the freezer. Not the best idea. It was way too rich! Once it hardened overnight, it was almost divine.

I'm sure I'll make ice cream again, but overall, it's so much easier and cheaper to buy a carton from the store and tastes almost as good.

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown.

Ingredients

* 2 cups of half-and-half
* 1 cup of whipping cream
* 1 cup of sugar
* 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. If you have one, attach a frying or candy thermometer to inside of pan. Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. If you don't have a thermometer (which I don't), 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. 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 unit's 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.