Last month while strolling down a New York City street with my sister Amanda, we saw a large neon sign that read PSYCHIC. Of course, we walked right in. A grey-haired woman, looking to be in her mid-70s, and wearing a dress similar to what Mrs. Roper would wear in “Threes Company” greeted us at the door and ushered us to sit down at a round table. On the table sat a crystal ball. She asked which one wanted to go first. I raised my hand. The grey-haired psychic then told my sister to watch the baby while she read my future. It was then that we saw this baby boy sitting in a bouncy seat on the ground. Before she began, she asked me how old I thought the baby was. I wanted to answer her with my mind, but I chickened out. Instead, I threw out a number. I believe I said 10 months. She shouted with a satisfied smile on her face, “he’s 3 months old!” Okay, get to it. When my session was over I made my way to the ground and started playing peek-a-boo while my sister sat down in front of the crystal ball. We then paid $60 each, said our thank yous and left. Here’s what we could gather from our readings: Amanda is going to have a vacation home one day, I am going to run a long race, and that baby is very big for its age. My sister has already started thinking about where this second home should be (Florida or New Hampshire), today I registered for a half marathon in October, and that baby is now 4 months old. Mind blown. Let’s make brown butter and rosemary ice cream!
I was inspired to make brown butter ice cream by a fabulous food blogger, Laura, and her delicious blog Baking In Pajamas. She made a very yummy brown butter ice cream a couple of weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. I was also intrigued with Laura Sawicki’s and Renee Ortiz’s brown butter ice cream recipe because it also infuses the flavor of fresh rosemary. I made oatmeal cookies (sans raisins) to sandwich the ice cream. I used the Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies recipe. You can find that recipe here.
Here we go… first, I heated cream, milk, salt, and sugar together in a saucepan. Once the sugar had dissolved I added a vanilla pod, vanilla seeds, rosemary, lemon zest, and heated it to just about a boil. I removed the saucepan from the heat, and set it aside for 30 minutes. This allowed the flavors to infuse. After the 30 minutes were up, I strained it into a bowl, and then poured it back into the saucepan to heat it up once again.
Next, I browned a stick of butter.
Once the browned butter had cooled, I whisked it into a bowl of egg yolks and sugar.
I ladled about 1/3 of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly until it was incorporated (tempering).
Once the egg yolk mixture had been tempered, I poured it all back into the saucepan with the remaining hot cream mixture. I whisked over medium-low heat until the custard thickened (about 170 degrees F.).
I strained the custard one last time, brought the custard’s temperature down to 40 degrees F. (I used an ice bath), and then chilled it in the refrigerator over night.
At long last, I was able to churn the ice cream in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.
- 1 1/2 cups Whole Milk
- 2 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1/4 cup (100 g) Dark Brown Sugar
- Pinch Salt
- 1/4 Vanilla Bean, split in half lengthwise, seeds scraped
- 1/4 cup fresh Rosemary, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- 1 stick (113 g) Unsalted Butter, sliced into 1-inch-thick pieces
- 9 large Egg Yolks
- 1 cup (200 g) Granulated Sugar
- In a medium-sized saucepan over low heat, whisk together the milk, cream, brown sugar, and salt. Once the sugar has dissolved add the vanilla pod, vanilla seeds, rosemary, and lemon zest. Increase the heat to medium and bring the liquid to just under a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and set aside for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to infuse.
- While the milk mixture is infusing, heat the butter in a wide pan over medium-high heat. First it will bubble up, and then it will slowly turn amber. It is ready when it emits a nutty aroma, and has turned a golden brown. Pour in a clean bowl, and set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then gradually whisk in the granulated sugar. Slowly pour in the room-temperature brown butter and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Strain the infused cream through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Return to the saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until it comes to just under a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly stream a third of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the yolks from curdling. Slowly pour this mixture into the remaining hot cream, whisking constantly. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 170ºF, or until it coats the back of a spoon.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve again and into a medium mixing bowl that’s resting in an ice bath. Let cool, then cover and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.
- Thermometer
- Ice Cream Maker
- Very large bowl (for ice bath)
- Saucepan
- Fine mesh sieve
