Real Home Made Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry Ice Cream

I have another blog post about making ice cream - Quick Home Made Ice Cream - which is a cheaty sort of way that uses condensed milk. If you're a purist (like me) then you'll like this slightly more labour intensive, but much more 'legit' ice cream recipe. The chocolate one especially, tastes like the chocolate ice cream you get at Koko Black. And the strawberry ice cream doesn't taste like the strawberry ice cream you'll get in a punnet - it is made with real strawberries, and hence, that is what it tastes like. Totally delicious. The chocolate and strawberry ice cream recipes are based off the basic vanilla recipe.

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream
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- 300ml thickened cream
- 300ml milk (skim is fine)
- 1 split vanilla bean (if you don't have any vanilla beans, use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract instead)
- 6 egg yolks
- 175g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat the cream, milk and vanilla bean in a pot, bring to the boil and turn off the heat. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract with electric beaters until pale.

Pour the cream mixture into the egg mixture bowl, and wash out the pot.

Return the whole lot to the clean pan, and cook over a low heat, stirring, until the mixture has thickened enough to convincingly coat the back of a spoon. This should take roughly 5 minutes.

Allow the mixture to cool, and then refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Then transfer the mixture to a plastic container (not glass, it will take much longer to freeze) and place in the freezer for about 40 minutes. Then remove from the freezer, and beat with electric beaters. Repeat this process 2 times more, and then allow to freeze completely (ideally, overnight).

Chocolate Ice Cream
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- Basic Vanilla Ice Cream
- 15 g cocoa powder
- 30 g caster sugar
- 4 tablespoons boiling water

Before you put the Basic Vanilla Ice Cream mixture into the fridge, combine the cocoa powder, sugar and water to a smooth paste. Stir this paste into the ice cream mixture and continue recipe as above.

Strawberry Ice Cream
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- Basic Vanilla Ice Cream, MINUS VANILLA BEAN AND VANILLA EXTRACT
- 200 g strawberries, hulled (or any other berry/fruit you like)
- Caster sugar, to taste

Puree the hulled strawberries until liquid and smooth. Strain into a bowl to remove the pips. Taste, and add as much sugar as you think it needs, keeping in mind that the ice cream is sweet already. Before you put the Basic (not vanilla) Ice Cream into the fridge, stir in the strawberry puree and continue as normal.

Beyond these basic recipes, the world is your oyster. You can add swirled fudge sauce, chopped up chocolate, lollies, fruit, anything you like. Enjoy!