If I was asked what dessert was my favorite, ice cream would certainly be on top of that list. I mean, it’s sweet and cold; it melts in your mouth with delightfulness. It’s one of the best desserts perfect during summer time as far as I’m concerned.

Since I bought my own ice cream machine five years ago, making homemade ice creams has become one of my favorite pastimes because it allows me to invent my own flavors using different techniques. When I started making my own ice cream, I used to avoid egg custard base because somehow my eggs always curdle. So in order to avoid many headaches, I only used a custard base with no egg for my ice creams.

However, as I perfected myself in ice cream making, I began to master the egg custard base. The first time, this method will always feel like the hardest way of making ice cream because it’s easy to turn your eggs into scrambled eggs if you don’t temper them the right way. But with more practice, the task will seem less complicated.

Usually, I use heavy cream when I make ice cream but this time I opted for a 15% old fashioned cream instead of the 35% cream because I wanted to make a lighter version. I have to say, the taste wasn’t as rich as the one with the regular heavy cream, but it did taste good. So I consider this experimentation a success.

 

Prep: 30 min                       Cook: 30 min                      8 Servings

 

INGREDIENTS

200 g of figs

1 cup of Sugar

4 egg yolks

2 cups of Milk

1 cup of 15% Old Fashioned Cream

½ cup of Honey

1 teaspoon of pure Vanilla Extract or 1 bean of Vanilla

 

DIRECTIONS

1. On a cutting board, cut each fig into quarter and set aside.
2. In a saucepan, over medium heat, cook the fig with honey and 1 cup of water for ten minutes or until obtaining a coulis or jam-like texture. Remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer the figs in a bowl to let them cool.
3. In a saucepan, over medium heat, heat milk, heavy cream and vanilla. While the milk and cream are heating up, in a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale and doubles in size.
4. In order to temper the eggs, pour a ladle of hot milk-cream into the egg mixture and whisk. This will prevent the eggs to curdle.
5. Stir the eggs into the saucepan with the rest of the milk and cream. And put the saucepan back on the stove over low heat and let cook. Keep stirring and make sure to scrap the bottom and the sides of the pot in order to cook the custard evenly.
6. Continue to cook the custard at low heat until it’s thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon.
7. For caution, in case the eggs did start curdling, strain the custard and let the container cool in larger bowl filled with water and ice cubes in order for the custard to stop cooking. Later let the custard cool in the fridge before starting the ice cream churning.
8. Transfer the cooled custard in the ice cream machine and let the custard churn until obtaining the perfect consistency for the ice cream you desire. When you are half-way through the churning time, add the figs reduction and continue to churn. Refer to your ice cream machine manual for the perfect churning time.

You can serve the ice cream immediately out of the ice cream machine; however, I prefer to freeze my ice cream once it’s out of the ice cream machine and serve later.

Serve with crispy waffles for some crunch.