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Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream

This bourbon vanilla ice cream is the perfect balance of vanilla and bourbon. It takes simple vanilla ice cream and gives it a boozy bourbon boost. You’ll love this sweet and simple ice cream that is perfect on its own or covered in hot fudge. 

Today’s post is brought to you by the super sweet Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen. Winnie is one of my local blogger friends and someone who I need to hang out with more often. Last summer I went over to her house for breakfast and she made the BEST eggs ever. They were farm fresh, full of herbs and perfectly cooked. Anyone who can make perfect eggs is a keeper in my book. Plus she has an amazing garden, adorable chickens, big jumping dogs and buzzy little bees. She is basically living my dream country life…sigh. 

Happy weekend everyone! I’m so pleased to be here for Brandy’s Ice Cream Social.

This summer, I’ve paid particular attention to making sure I enjoy the simple pleasures of the season. These have included lots of long shady walks, movies in freezing cold theaters, meals with family and friends planned around whatever happens to be ripe in my garden, fruity cocktails, and homemade ice cream.

While I do love to make funky ice cream flavors every now and then, I think there’s really something to be said for an excellent version of vanilla. This one, made with bourbon, is my new favorite.

The recipe comes from Matt and Ted Lee’s book: The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor, and I adapted it just slightly, by adding the seeds from a whole vanilla bean. It’s not at all hard to make but does require a little planning since you need to chill the custard thoroughly before transferring it to your ice cream maker.

I love this bourbon vanilla ice cream in all its freshly churned soft glory, but if you prefer a firmer treat, then scoop it into a freezer-appropriate container and give it a few hours to harden up before serving. In my home this summer, we’ve enjoyed this ice cream over grilled fruit and also with fruit sauces like the rose petal peach one you see here.

I bet it would also be great with any cobbler or pie, and I am dreaming about turning it into a fabulous grown-up milkshake with the additional of a bit more bourbon 🙂

You can also find Winnie on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Craving, even more, ice cream? Try my Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, Apple Butter Gingersnap Ice CreamNo Churn Cherry Amaretto Ice CreamPeanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream or my Vanilla Malted Brownie Ice Cream.

Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream

This bourbon vanilla ice cream is the perfect balance of vanilla and bourbon. It takes simple vanilla ice cream and gives it a boozy bourbon boost. You'll love this sweet and simple ice cream that is perfect on its own or covered in hot fudge.

Yield: About 1 quart

Prep Time: 40 minutes plus overnight cooling

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes plus overnight cooling

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup bourbon
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
  • 2 cups heavy cream (I used local cream that was not ultra-pasteurized)
  • 4 large egg yolks (I used my own chickens’ eggs)
  • 1 cup whole milk

Directions:

In a small saucepan, bring bourbon to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the sugar and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves, (a minute or two). Reduce heat to medium, and continue to boil for about 5 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by about one fourth.

Add vanilla extract, vanilla seeds and cream to the bourbon mixture and heat over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 150 degrees F. This should take about 2 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks. Slowly pour the bourbon cream into the eggs, whisking constantly until the liquids are combined. Pour the mixture back into the pan, and heat over low heat, stirring, until the candy thermometer reaches 175 degrees F. This won’t take long (about three minutes); you’ll also know it’s ready because the custard will coat the back of a spoon at this point. Take the pan off the heat and add milk.

Transfer the ice cream base to a pitcher or other container (it’s best to cover it tightly, because it would be a bummer to knock it and have it spill everywhere…believe me, I know) and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Pour the chilled bourbon custard into an ice cream maker, and proceed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Churn for 20-30 minutes, or until the ice cream is thick and creamy.

Serve as is, or transfer the ice cream to a covered container with a tight-fitting lid and freeze until the ice cream has hardened, 2 hours or more. Remove the ice cream from the freezer 10 minutes before serving.