Unlike a traditional vanilla ice cream, this recipe uses Mexican vanilla beans. Mexican vanilla beans have a unique flavor that is more perfumed than a regular vanilla bean. If you are unable to find Mexican vanilla, you can still use this recipe to make a rich vanilla ice cream.
I bought both the Mexican vanilla beans and the Mexican vanilla extract at Penzeys spices. They are very expensive. When you are done using the vanilla beans to make ice cream, you can use them to make your own Mexican vanilla extract. Rinse the beans off and put them in a jar with cheap vodka. Keep adding beans to the jar whenever you use one. The flavor from the beans will leach out into the vodka, and create vanilla extract.
This recipe uses a custard base vanilla ice cream. I find that this type of ice cream base maintains its texture better in the freezer. It does have more of a French-vanilla flavor and color.
If you prefer a less eggy ice cream base, you can use my other vanilla ice cream recipe and replace the vanilla extract with 2 – 3 tablespoons of Mexican vanilla extract. This will create an ice cream that is very similar to the Mexican Vanilla ice cream flavor at Amy’s Ice cream, but the texture will not stay as smooth after a few days in the freezer.
It is necessary to use some sort of ice cream maker to churn the ice cream. If it is not churned it will turn into a block of ice in the freezer. Machines are available at a variety of different prices.
Equipment:
Spatula
Fork
Paring knife
Cutting board
Measuring cups and spoons
Sauce pan with lid
Strainer
Large bowl
Medium bowl
Ice cream machine
Ingredients:
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
1 Mexican vanilla bean
1 tablespoon Mexican vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
Instructions:
Put the milk, sugar, and half of the cream in the stock pot. Heat over medium heat. Stir so the sugar will dissolve.
Use the paring knife to cut into the vanilla bean lengthwise, open the bean, and use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds. They will look like small black specks held together with a sticky goo.
Put the bean pod and the seeds that you scraped out into the milk.
Turn off the heat and put the lid on the pot. Let the vanilla bean steep for thirty minutes.
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Put the yolks in a medium bowl and use a fork to beat them together.
Slowly pour the liquid from the sauce pot into the bowl with the eggs, mixing continuously. Stir until it is completely mixed together.
Pour the eggs mixture back into the pot, and put the pot back on the stove over medium heat.
Use the spatula to continuously stir the mixture. When it starts to get thicker, turn off the heat and take the pot off the stove.
Add the rest of the cream and the vanilla extract to the pot and stir it in.
Pour the mixture through the strainer into a bowl. Put the vanilla bean in the bowl as well, and chill in the refrigerator until cool.
Remove the vanilla bean from the ice cream base, and pour the ice cream base into your ice cream machine. Follow the directions on your machine to churn the ice cream.
Ingredient Notes:
Cream
Be sure to check the ingredients label on your cream. It can be difficult to find cream that does not have thickeners added.
Mexican Vanilla
This recipe uses both vanilla extract and a vanilla bean. Extract is not an ultra-processed ingredient, but don’t mistake it for vanilla essence which is a synthetic product and ultra-processed.
The Mexican vanilla is an important part of the recipe, so try and find some that is a good quality. It has a very unique and special flavor. I bought mine at Penny’s.
If you cannot find Mexican vanilla this recipe will work great with a regular vanilla bean, but it will not have that distinctive flavor of Mexican vanilla.