Home-Made Cinnamon Ice Cream

I love that when I bake a cake at home the aroma of the cake can be smelled from the garage when someone comes home. It can be smelled even from the street. Imagine this – an aroma of freshly baked cakes coming out of each house on your street. Wouldn’t it be absolutely wonderful?

But I have to travel out of town, so no time to bake a cake for the weekend this weekend.
My little guy expressed his concern for the lack of cake. He asked me if he can bake a cake with his dad. I said: “sure”. Mind you, this is the same boy who always chooses gummy bears over freshly baked cake!

There’s something about a homemade cake that, for me, turns a “place to live” into a “home”. My aunt always baked on Fridays, 2 cakes! And her home always seemed to me to be so… a place of family.

If I can’t, for any reason, bake a cake on Friday, it makes me go bananas. It’s like an addiction. I gotta to have cake. I don’t always eat it, but I’ve got to make it.
So I made a fresh batch of cinnamon ice cream instead.

You might have missed the recipe in my long post - 5 stars dinner at home, so I give it to you here, in a separate post, to make sure you have it.
So what if it snowed again when we have totally not expected it (‘cause we thought we have already had enough snow for this year)? It’s nice and warm in the house. The fireplace is on. It's ice cream time!

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Make this at least 1 day ahead just to be of the safe side that the ice cream has the right consistency.
Slightly adapted from Suzanne Goin, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”
Makes 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 extra-large egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
My additions:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon hazelnuts extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon for serving

Place the milk, cream, cinnamon sticks, and ground cinnamon in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover, and let the flavors infuse about 30 minutes.
Bring mixture back to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Whisk a ¼ cup of warm cream mixture into the yolks to temper them. Slowly, add another ¼ cup of the warm cream, whisking to incorporate. At this point, you can add the rest of the cream mixture in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pot and return to the stove.

Cook the custard over medium heat 6 to 8 minute, stirring with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. The custard will thicken, and when it’s done will coat the back of the spatula. Off the heat, add the vanilla and hazelnut extracts.

Strain in a fine mesh sieve and chill at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. The base should be very cold before you churn it. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

If you want to bake a cake, click Cake for the weekend
This one seems to be a great hit - Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake