Cinnamon Ice Cream

Okay I lied. I brought my ice cream maker back out of hibernation.  For the Holiday Cookie Party, I wanted to make festive themed ice creams.  Cinnamon is the stand-out spice in all holiday treats and drinks, I think I used it in everything from the bruleed sweet potatoes to the mulled wine we drank.  I found a great recipe that let the cinnamon infuse in the custard so the flavor was subtle and went well with all our holiday cookies!

Steeping the cinnamon sticks into the custard to maximize the flavor.

Stirring the custard! nom nom nom!

Cinnamon Ice Cream, recipe borrowed from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Makes about 1 quart

• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks, and 1 cup of the heavy cream together in a saucepan over medium heat.  

Once warm, cover, and let the mixture steep for about an hour.  I let it steep for about 2 hours.  

Rewarm the cinnamon milk mixture.  Remove the cinnamon sticks from the mixture.  Pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream into a large bowl.  Set a strainer over this bowl.  

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm mixture over the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the entire mixture back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat, making sure to scrape the bottom (or else you will end up with scrambled eggs) until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  

Pour this custard through the strainer and into the cream.  I think this might be something like "tempering" but I'm not sure.  I know you "temper" when you mix together something at a normal temperature and something heated, so as to slowly heat the item at normal temperature.  

Stir until cool over an ice bath.  Chill the mixture in the fridge thoroughly.  Freeze in your ice cream maker according to directions.  I just let mine run for about 30 minutes.  

Ending Notes:  This was a really great ice cream.  The flavor was juuuust right - not too strong and didn't leave you thinking, "what is this?".  Def a good one for holiday party festivities!