Vanilla Ice Cream

Friends recently whisked me away for cocktails at the Claremont Resort to celebrate a certain momentous birthday event. Dear friends, sunset over the San Francisco Bay, the twinkling lights of Berkeley and Oakland and the Bay Bridges spread out below us, cocktails and some fabulous marrow, bacon and onion marmalade on toast and really good garlic fries in a paper cone... Sigh. It was lovely.

I cast my mind back to when I had last been at the Claremont.... Waaaaay back when I was in my twenties, I met Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream for brunch at the Claremont. This was when there actually was a real Ben and a real Jerry at Ben & Jerry's, (before British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever gobbled them up in 2000) and I had written them a fan letter offering my acting services to do an ad for them, because I really loved their ice cream. Ben called me up at my thankless secretarial job at PaineWebber (which was gobbled up by Swiss Bank UBS in 2000) and invited me out. I have no idea why, really. We had brunch - and that was that. I never heard from him again.

Also way back in the day, I bought a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cookbook, along with a Donvier hand crank ice cream maker, at the San Francisco Whole Earth Access store (also long defunct.) It's been over twenty years, and I still use that little hand crank ice cream maker; it consists of a metal tub with some special freezable goo sandwiched between the insulated layers. You freeze the cylinder overnight, mix up your ice cream base and chill it, pour the ice cream base into the cylinder, and then stir it with a special dasher and handle every few minutes for about 20 minutes. No salt, no electricity, very little effort, and voilà - a quart of the best ice cream. I still also use the Ben and Jerry's cookbook.

Although it's been about twenty-five years since I met Ben for brunch at the Claremont, and so many things from that time of my life are defunct - including my acting career - I am happy to still be here, and putting my ice cream making skills to good use for my lovely daughter.

For Johanna's tenth birthday party, I used the B&J recipe for French Vanilla Ice Cream. Naturally, I modified the recipe; in the 1980's, people didn't hesitate to use raw eggs in ice cream. Even though I use organic eggs from the farmer's market, I take the extra step to cook the egg custard base for the ice cream. Here is the recipe, including my changes.


French Vanilla Ice Cream

Adapted from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book

1 cup organic whole milk
3/4 cups organic sugar
2 large organic, free range eggs
2 cups organic heavy cream
2 tsp organic vanilla extract

1. Put the cup of whole milk and the 3/4 cup of sugar into the top of a double boiler. Put the boiler directly on top of the heat (not into the bottom part of the double boiler.) Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is scalded. (Do not boil the milk.)

2. In a medium-sized heat proof bowl, whisk the eggs until well mixed. Gradually pour the scalded milk and sugar into the eggs, stirring constantly. (This keeps the eggs from cooking up into scrambled eggs - not what you want in your ice cream!)

3. Using a heat proof spatula, scrape the eggs-milk-sugar mix back into the top of the double boiler. Over - not in - hot water, cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it has the consistency of a creamy sauce, coating the back of the wooden spoon, or wires of the whisk you are stirring with.

4. Turn off the heat, remove the top part of the double boiler from the hot water, and stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Let it cool, uncovered, then chill, covered, in the fridge until well-chilled.

5. Pour ice cream base into your prepared ice cream maker, and freeze, churning almost constantly. When it is the consistency of soft serve ice cream, you can add any special treats you like - chocolate shavings, etc. - and churn them in until well-mixed. Spoon/spatula the soft ice cream into other freezable containers, and freeze them until solid in your freezer. (If you leave it in the cylinder, it is hard to get it out!)

Serve alone, with the delectable fudge sauce, dulce de leche, or whatever your heart desires!