Vanilla bean, Grape-nut Ice-cream (NO EGGS)

Cookout and BBQ Season!

For the month of July my posts will be dedicated to summer foods. The food you can expect at every BBQ; Ice-creams, sorbets, grilling, potato salads, and sauces, all with my special twist of course.

So to kick off the month which also happens to be National ice-cream month (USA) let’s begin with an ice-cream recipe I have made countless times.  Vanilla bean, grape-nut ice-cream

The best thing about cooking is the control you have over your ingredients. Especially with ice cream I love being able to choose the type of milk and amount of sugar that goes in.

Grape-nut ice-cream is my favorite, second only to pistachio/grape-nut. Its the quintessential Jamaican ice-cream flavor. Parlors across the country are bombarded every Sunday with patrons wanting their dairy fix for the week.

This home made version, might be the best grape-nut ice-cream you will ever have, and it uses no eggs at all, very simple. It’s extremely hard going back to store bought ice-creams after making your own. However be warned, this is not an instant gratification recipe, you will need a few hours, after all, we are dealing with frozen solids. Also you will need an ice-cream maker. I use the Cuisinart ice-cream and sorbet maker.

                                                                                  Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

2 cup milk

¾ cup sugar

2 stalks vanilla beans

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons amaretto almond liqueur

2 tablespoons vanilla

3/4 cup grape-nuts

If you want to make a creamier grape nut ice cream using eggs check out my egg-nog ice cream. Follow that recipe but substitute the white rum for the amaretto liqueur above and add the grape nuts after churning.

Instructions  (Printable Recipe)

Preliminary 

If your ice-cream maker is brand new.  Rinse and place your freezer bowel in the freezer overnight until the cooling liquid is rock solid (when you shake the bowl you won’t hear the liquid).

Day 1 (before bed)

1. In a pot on medium heat, combine, milk, cream, sugar and scraped vanilla beans (pods and all), stir until the sugar has dissolved and remove from the heat. (do not boil)
2. Once off the heat add liquid vanilla extract and the amaretto liquor
3. Place this into a seal-able container, allow to cool before placing  in the fridge overnight (you need this liquid to be as cold as possible, overnight is sufficient)

Day 2 (in the morning)

1. Plug in and assemble your ice-cream maker, turn it on.
2. Remove the pods from the base liquid and pour into the freezer bowl (make sure to scrape out all the little black vanilla beans . 
3. Once its starts to resemble soft serve ice-cream add the grape-nuts.
4. Once grape-nuts are incorporated turn off. Place a plastic wrap on the top of the ice-cream and place back in the freezer for a few hours till it has hardened.

This way your ice cream will be ready by the evening of Day 2.

Greedy tips:

1. Store your ice-cream freezer bowl in the freezer at all times. So it’s cold whenever you need it.
2. You can use fat free milk instead of whole milk, to cut the richness (not recommended lol)
3. Watch how to use vanilla beans here
4. The added alcohol keeps the ice-cream from getting solid as a rock. Without some alcohol content the ice-cream will get very tough and hard to serve. 
5. If you don't have vanilla beans, just double up on the vanilla extract

Make this for National ice-cream day July 21st

Shopping:

One of the simplest icecream makers ive ever use, and it can never hurt to have an extra bowl so you can make two flavors at once!


  XoXo Greedygirl