Mark Bittman's World's Simplest Ice Cream Base

NY Times

Mark Bittman, The New York Times resident foodie and cook has come up with what has to be one of the easiest of all cooked ice cream bases. A basic corn starch base that is simple both in ingredients and in preparation. If you want to make a fast ice cream that is still better than anything you can buy at the supermarket this is the way to go. Plus as he notes in the article you can make this as low fat as you want or need to based on the type of milk or cream you use

Corn Starch Ice Cream Base

Mark Bittman’s World’s Simplest Ice Cream Base

Posted By: Bob Clark

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4

Corn Starch Ice Cream Base Makes 1 Pint

Ingredients

2½ cups light cream, half-and-half or milk (whole or skim), or a combination. You can also substitute buttermilk or yogurt for half (1¼ cups) the mixture.
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cornstarch.

Instructions

In a small bowl blend ½ cup of milk mixture with cornstarch so there are no lumps.
Add the remaining 2 cups of the milk/cream mixture, the sugar and salt to a saucepan. If using a vanilla bean, split it and scrape in the seeds and then add the pod to the pan, if not don’t add the vanilla extract now. Cook over a medium low heat until mixture begins to steam.
Remove the vanilla pods and add the cornstarch mixture to the pot. Cook, stirring until it starts to thicken and just begins to boil. Reduce the heat to very low and stir for another 5 minutes or so until thick.
Take off the heat, stir in vanilla extract if using instead of a bean.
If the mixture has any noticeable lumps, strain it through a fine mesh sieve. If you are not using an ice cream machine with a built in freezing condenser, pour custard into a bowl and refrigerate until cold. This will usually take a couple of hours but here are some options.
Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Go to the original recipe for a short list of flavor variations

Corn Starch Ice Cream on the New York Times

A Video of Mr. Bittman preparing the base.