Simple Vanilla Homemade Ice Cream

I've been making & enjoying homemade ice cream for 14 years now. I usually just make it during the hot months of summer when it seems to magically make the heat & humidity bearable. I recently shared a new recipe for raspberry ice cream but this time I'm sharing my first, tried & true, simple vanilla ice cream.

all the ingredients you need

This was the first ice cream recipe I ever made and it's the one I keep coming back to. The best part to a lazy cook like me- no cooking at all. Just mix up the ingredients until the sugar dissolves and pour it into your maker. It's so simple that you can't mess it up. Most of the time I just use my homemade vanilla extract but sometimes I'll get a little fancy and scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean which takes this ice cream from delicious to AMAZING.

my much loved ice cream maker

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream
makes about 1 quart

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups half & half
seeds from 1 vanilla bean OR 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar
dash salt

Combine the ingredients in a blender or food processor until the sugar dissoves. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to freeze. Pour into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions for freezing. It takes about 20 minutes on the slower setting for my machine. Place in a plastic container and allow to freeze 2-4 hours for a good, solid consistency.

my maker doing it's work

  Enjoy!