Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise and scraped, seeds reserved
• 6 large egg yolks

Directions:

1. Prepare an ice water bath by filling a large bowl halfway with ice and water; set aside. Combine cream, half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla beans and seeds in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved, about 12 minutes.
2. 2Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks in a second large bowl until smooth. Remove cream mixture from heat and slowly pour about 1 cup into the egg yolks, whisking constantly until smooth. Pour cream-egg mixture back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until custard coats the spoon, about 2 minutes. (When you draw your finger across the spoon, it should make a mark through the custard, which should not run back in on itself.)
3. 3Remove custard from heat and strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a third large heatproof bowl to remove any lumps, scraping as much vanilla bean through the strainer as possible. Remove vanilla bean pods from the strainer and add to the custard. Place ice cream base over the ice bath to cool to room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.
4. 4Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill completely, at least 3 hours or overnight. Once chilled, remove the vanilla bean pods and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 1 week.

Fresh Fruit Ice Cream

Ingredients:
2 pints (4 cups) fresh blueberries (or other fresh fruit)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 cup sugar
5 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions:

1. Add blueberries to a medium saucepan with 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. 
2. Cook over low heat, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes. 
3. Drain using a fine mesh strainer, pressing berries to extract as much juice/puree as possible. Set aside.
4. Heat half-and-half and 1 cup sugar in a separate saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat when mixture is totally heated.
5. Add heavy cream to a separate bowl.
6. Beat egg yolks by hand or with an electric mixer until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thick.
7. Temper the egg yolks by slowly drizzling in a half cup of hot half-and-half mixture, whisking constantly. After that, pour the egg yolk/half-and-half mixture into the pan containing the rest of the half-and-half mixture. 
8. Cook over low to medium-low heat (depending on how hot your stove gets) until quite thick, stirring constantly. 
9. Drain custard using a fine mesh strainer, then pour into the bowl with the cream. Stir to combine.
10. Add blueberry juice/puree to the cream/custard mixture and stir. 
11. Chill mixture completely, then freeze in an ice cream maker until thick. 
12. Place container in freezer to harden for an additional two hours.

Pumpkin Pie Ice-Cream

This ice-cream is amazing. It seriously tastes just like pumpkin pie. If you don't like pumpkin pie, it's not for you! The key to this ice-cream is using fresh pumpkin, not from a can.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup fresh pumpkin puree (you can substitute 1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 white sugar
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

1. If you are going to use fresh pumpkin puree get a pie pumpkin from the store. Cook the pumpkin. I do this in my vegetable/rice steamer. After you cook the pumpkin puree it in a food processor.
2. Then put puree in cheese cloth and then into a colander for about 15 minutes to drain the extra water.
3. Heat cream, white sugar, and brown sugar in a sauce pan until it barely begins to bubble, stiring constantly, do not let it boil.
4. Remove sweetened cream from heat and let cool to room temperature.
5. Beat pumpkin puree, sweetened cream, salt, and the spices for 3 minutes on medium-high speed.
6. Pour mixture into your ice-cream maker and turn on for about 30 minutes or following the directions of your particular machine (add some walnuts if you want a bit of a crunch).
   
7. Enjoy!