Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
The essential dessert, perfected
Vanilla has the curious distinction of being both the most popular flavor in the Western world and a byword for boring. This says more about our collective vocabulary than it does about vanilla, which is in fact one of the most complex flavoring agents known to gastronomy. A single vanilla bean contains over 250 different organic compounds, more than are found in wine. Calling someone "vanilla" as an insult reveals only that you've never tasted the real thing.
The vanilla orchid, native to Mexico, was considered an aphrodisiac by the Aztecs, who added it to their chocolate drinks. The Spanish conquistadors brought it back to Europe, where it remained ruinously expensive until a twelve-year-old enslaved boy named Edmond Albius, working on the island of Réunion in 1841, discovered how to hand-pollinate the flower. Before Albius, vanilla beans could only be produced where the melipona bee lived, which is to say, only in Mexico. After Albius, vanilla plantations spread across the tropics, though the labor of pollination remained—and remains—entirely manual.
This ice cream pays respect to that labor. Real vanilla bean paste flecks the cream with those iconic black seeds, and the flavor is anything but boring: warm, floral, slightly smoky, with caramel undertones that make you realize everything labeled "vanilla" at the supermarket has been lying to you.
Method
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1
Cook the custard
Place all ingredients into the TM bowl. Cook for 8 minutes at 80°C on Speed 4.
💡 The eggs need to reach 80°C to thicken properly and kill any bacteria.
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2
Cool the base
Pour the mixture into a container. Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate until cold, about another hour.
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3
First freeze
Transfer container to freezer for 8 hours or overnight, until solid.
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4
Soften
Remove from freezer and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. The mixture should be firm but spoonable.
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5
Churn in the Thermomix
Spoon the frozen mixture into the TM bowl. Blend for 20 seconds on Speed 9, then 10 seconds on Speed 4.
💡 This is where the magic happens—the machine incorporates air and breaks ice crystals.
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6
Final freeze
Return to container and freeze for at least 8 hours before serving. The texture will be silkier than after the first freeze.
Notes & Tips
Vanilla bean paste vs extract
- • Paste is worth the expense here. It contains real vanilla seeds and a more complex flavor. Heilala is excellent. Nielsen-Massey is widely available.
Dairy-free version
- • Full-fat coconut cream works beautifully. The coconut flavor is subtle—you'll taste vanilla first—but adds a pleasant tropical note.
Variations
- • Stir through 2 tablespoons of date caramel before the final freeze
- • Add 50g chopped dark chocolate during the Thermomix blending step
- • Fold in 3 tablespoons of crushed honeycomb for a crunchy version
Make-ahead
- • The ice cream keeps for 2 weeks in the freezer. Let it soften for 5-10 minutes before scooping.