Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

With a sharp knife split the vanilla beans lengthwise. Scrape seeds into a large heavy saucepan, along with the pods, heavy cream, half and half and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, over medium heat stirring occasionally, then remove the pan from the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Temper the eggs by slowly ladling some of the cream mixture into the eggs while whisking the eggs vigorously to prevent them from scrambling. Once you've incorporated about half of the cream mixture into the eggs, pour the custard back into the pan with the rest of the cream mixture, stir to combine. Cook the custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until a thermometer registers 170 degrees (Do not boil).

Pour the custard through a mesh strainer into a clean bowl to strain out the vanilla pods, solids or curds. Let the custard cool to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 3 hours, then freeze for several hours OR churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. (I have a Krups ice cream machine, and it took about 35 minutes.)

If you like soft serve, eat it right away. Otherwise transfer to a container and freeze for a couple of hours to firm up. The ice cream may be quite hard when you first take it out of the freezer, so you may want to let it sit a few minutes to soften before trying to scoop.