Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I know, it's December and I'm showing you ice cream.  I haven't lost my mind (completely) see you still serve ice cream with your Apple pie right? There are lots of birthday's in December (like my hubbies and at least one other VERY important one) so those are two very good reasons why you should make this.  I've decided that this is one of the very best vanilla ice cream's I've made so far.  Creamy, vanilla bean-y, perfect sweetness.  My friends who shared this with me couldn't believe it was homemade because it tastes just like the premium store bought stuff.

Look at all those little black flecks of vanilla bean!

OK, here's the recipe.  You gotta try this!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Recipe found on Tracey's Culinary Adventures here

Ingredients

• 1 vanilla bean
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vanilla sugar (I didn't have this ahead of time so I just rubbed the vanilla bean into the sugar really well until there were small pieces of bean mixed throughout)
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• pinch of salt
• 6 large egg yolks
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (I used the equivalent amount of vanilla extract)

Directions

1. Use a sharp knife to cut a vanilla bean from top to bottom.  Turn your knife over and use the back to scrape out the beans.  Add the beans to a saucepan and then add the regular sugar and the vanilla sugar.  Mix the sugar and vanilla bean so that you can see little black specks throughout the sugar. 
2. Add the vanilla pod, milk, cream and salt into the sugar mixture and cook until the mixture is warm but not boiling and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Use a medium heat proof bowl and beat the egg yolks.  Take the warm milk mixture and incorporate it a little at a time into the egg mixture, slowly so you don't cook the eggs.  Once you've got it all incorporated, transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture can coat the back of a spoon. 170-175 degrees.
4. Pour the custard mixture through a fine mesh sieve and add the vanilla paste (or vanilla extract) and cool the mixture down.  It's best if you can refrigerate it overnight.  Use your ice cream makers manufacturers instructions to mix the ice cream.  Store in an airtight container in your freezer.