What a wonderful dessert to serve on a cool evening. The aroma that filled my kitchen while making this is one I am excited to have you experience when you make it! You can prepare this as a custard or as an ice cream. I made mine into ice cream, but was tempted to just leave it custard. Either way, the effort involved with this recipe is well worth it. I was going to take pictures when the ice cream was served, but it was gone before I remembered. Also, before I forget, this recipe was adapted from the cookbook that came with my Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine, an appliance 6 out of 6 of my family members recommend!
What you need:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup pecan halves and pieces
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or sea salt)
2 1/4 cups whole milk
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 whole vanilla bean
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/8 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Add 1 cup of pecans and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook over medium-low heat until pecans are toasted and golden, stirring frequently, about 4 to 6 minutes.
Remove from the heat, strain (the butter will have a pecan flavor and can be reserved for another use, such as on your toast in the morning). Chill the nuts.
Combine 2 1/4 cup of milk and 2 1/4 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Use a sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Use the blunt edge to scrape out the "seeds." Stir the seeds and bean pod into the milk/cream mixture. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
At this point the everyone in the house starts wandering into the kitchen wanting to know what smells so good!
Just a side note, Costco sells whole vanilla beans a lot less expensive than the grocery store. Don't skimp on this step! Vanilla extract will not produce the same wonderful flavor as using a vanilla bean.
Combine 4 eggs, 2 egg yolks, and 1 1/8 cups of sugar in a stand mixer or in a medium bowl using a hand held mixer.
Blend on medium speed until until the mixture is thick, smooth, and pale yellow in color (similar to mayonnaise), about 2 minutes.
Remove the vanilla bean pod and discard it. Or rinse off the pod and add it to your strained pecan butter, yummy by the way! Pour one cup of the hot mixture into a liquid measuring cup.
With the mixer on low speed, add the cup of hot milk/cream mixture to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream.
When thoroughly combined, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium low heat.
Cook, stirring constantly, over medium low heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This picture doesn't show as well as I wanted just how thick the mixture becomes. It should be somewhat like custard at this point, pretty thick.
Transfer to a bowl, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly on the custard, and chill completely. Stir in the chilled pecans. If you are making it into ice cream, pour into your ice cream machine as directed. Although I have never tried doing it, I would venture to say you could try freezing it without an ice cream machine and see how it goes. Maybe try pouring just some of the chilled custard into a freezer safe container. Let me know!
