Okay, so I only have one rather boring picture of my recipe being made so I'm including much more interesting (to me) pictures of who is behind the recipe. Long ago and far away in a weird place known as California, my grandparents settled in rural Napa Valley. My grandmother would buy milk from one of the local dairy farms. The bottles would come with a thick layer of cream sitting on top of the milk. Wasting was not in her vocabulary, so instead of skimming the cream and throwing it out, she used it and created a recipe for vanilla ice cream. We are now into our fourth generation of passing down her recipe and if you happen to be hosting a family birthday party without serving her ice cream, your punishment is death, revocation of your family card, or 10 years in the time-out chair. Nobody has been brave enough to risk it. Grandma passed on several years ago but Grandpa is still kicking at 102. He's one of my favorite people. :) I have never tasted anything like her ice cream anywhere else. The difference with her recipe is that she added lemon extract in addition to vanilla extract. It can easily be adjusted and made with only vanilla extract if preferred. At Christmas, we alter it a bit to use only vanilla extract and then substitute half of more of the milk with eggnog. Holy Hannah, is it good. This recipe is sized for the big ice cream maker, the one that uses ice and rock salt around the spinning cylinder inside what looks like a bucket. We have a smaller ice cream freezer with the cylinder you keep in the freezer that doesn't require the ice or salt and we just cut the recipe in half in order to use that one. Enjoy!
Vanilla Ice Cream
4 eggs
2-1/2 cups white sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups evaporated milk
5 cups whole milk (we use whatever we have on hand which is usually 2%)
2-1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 tsp lemon extract
1/2 tsp salt
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until stiff. Stir in cream, evaporated milk, whole milk, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and salt until well combined. Pour into the freezer canister of an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer instructions.
