I've been experimenting lately with different flavors for ice cream... I'm a big fan of ice cream. Here's one I came up with on a whim the other day, which I think came out really good.
ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk (divided into 1-cup portions)
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups animal crackers (I used Stauffer's brand)
6 egg yolks
Heat oven to 350F. Spread out the animal crackers on a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for 10 minutes, stirring after 5. Remove from oven, allow to cool.
While cooling, bring 1.5 cups of milk to a simmer over medium heat in a large saucepan.
Crush up the animal crackers into small chunks - you'll end up with about 50% powder and 50% small chunks. Pour this into the simmering milk and stir well, then return to a simmer.
Steep for 30 minutes, then strain the milk - pressing with the back of a spoon to get as much milk as possible out of the animal crackers. You should end up with about a cup of liquid, as some of it will be impossible to get out of the animal crackers.
Add the 1 cup of animal-cracker milk to the 2 cups of heavy cream. If you have more than 1 cup of animal cracker milk, use less cream - if you have less than 1 cup, add a little more milk - you want to end up with 3 cups of liquid.
Add the 2/3 cup sugar to the milk/cream mixture, and bring back to a simmer, stirring frequently so the sugar dissolves.
As soon as the liquid comes to a simmer, remove from heat.
Begin whisking the egg yolks in a measuring cup or bowl until they thicken a little. Then slowly drizzle in 3/4 of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs into the mixture -- go slowly.
Once you have 3/4 of the mixture whisked into the eggs, dump it all at once back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat, whisking the saucepan the whole time. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (I always cook it to 180F on my Thermapen.)
Strain this custard mixture with a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate it. The next day (or 4 hours later minimum), put it in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
