A decade or so of fertility, and the pain it brings, teaches you that there’s nothing a lil’ ice cream sundae can’t ameliorate.

After baking a huge a$$ pavlova last week, I was stuck with 6 egg yolks, which were put to good use in a (super easy peasy — and I will use this word many times) home made vanilla ice cream.

Now, meringues are a very good excuse for making ice cream, or vice versa, depending on which was your original intention.

However, most people end up throwing those yolks away either because:

1. they didn’t know you could make ice cream from it (highly improbable considering anyone with the skills to whip up a meringue will know that it only takes a few good yolks for ice cream); or
2. they think you can only make ice cream with an ice cream maker (again, unlikely due to the above); or
3. they can’t be bothered to take the mixture out every 2-odd hours or so to beat out the ice crystals — which is what many ice cream maker-less recipes using milk will ask you to do — seriously, who has that kinda time?!

Note: The NyonyaCelup belongs to the 3rd category of people.

Fortunately for the Baba & her, she chanced upon this recipe online substituting cream for milk — and ta-dah, no churn home made ice cream!

Super Easy Peasy Vanilla Ice Cream

Note: I’ve substituted the vanilla pod with vanilla essence since it’s near impossible to obtain them where I come from.

Ingredients

• 6 (large) egg yolks
  – I usually separate them in the egg shells themselves. Takes a bit of practice, but I get better results compared to those plastic egg separator thingamajigs.
  I encourage the use of two separate bowls: one to separate, and the other to store the whites in.
  That way, you don’t start cussing in 3 different languages and 3 different dialects when you accidentally break a yolk at your 6th egg
  (important for the meringues, not the ice cream).
• 750 ml of whipping cream
• 70 g of castor sugar — I don’t like mine too sweet
• 2 cap-fulls of that yucky synthetic liquid that tries to pass off for vanilla
  – it is essential to not use too much of it or you’ll end up with an overtly sickly synthetic brown vanilla ice cream, not at all appealing
• chocolate chips / cookie crumbs / nuts / etc. if you like (though IMHO, those taste better on top)

Instructions

• Pour eggs, sugar, and vanilla essence into a bowl and mix thoroughly till all the sugar is dissolved.
  A hand / stand mixer is not necessary, but it will save you a lot of trouble.

• Add the cream in bit by bit, all the while continuing to mix the mixture (see what I meant by making your job easier).

• Once you’ve reached a custard-y consistency, pour the mixture into a container and freeze.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Freezing time: I usually leave it overnight… :p
Makes: 2 standard-sized square Tupperwares

It’s a lil’ hard fresh from the freezer, but otherwise it tastes delicious!
(And just in case anyone was going to ask me how long I could keep them, let’s just say that we were still eating Christmas’ ice cream on Chinese New Year eve…)

Today I had mine with Hershey’s Magic Shell chocolate-flavoured topping — which is also quite easy to home make, but I’ll save that recipe for another day.

And no, I’ve not forgotten about my buah keluak yet;
I’ll get about to it before Lent begins,
I promise.

Love,
The NyonyaCelup