Vanilla and brandy ice cream

Somewhere just on the right side of smug is the feeling one gets from preparing something that most of the time is bought ready made, like bread, jam or ice-cream. An ice-cream maker does make the job rather disappointingly easy, but still quite worth the minimal effort. And this recipe, an adaptation of one I saw on telly here recently, is easier than most, as it involves no eggs or custards.

750ml double cream
140g granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
seeds of 1 vanilla pod
75ml brandy

Just put the cream, sugar, vanilla extract and seeds in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar has totally dissolved. This happened much quicker than I had expected; the cream was hardly warm at all. To check, I just rubbed a (clean!) finger and thumb against one another in the liquid to make sure there was no sandy sugar feeling. Then, strain it into a bowl and leave to cool completely - several hours covered in the fridge did the trick. Finally stir in the brandy and churn for half and hour or so in the ice-cream maker. Because of the uncooked alcohol, the ice-cream remains much more liquid than most - more like thick milk shake (although it does firm up afterwards in the freezer).

The ice-cream has a good texture and, unlike most home-made versions, can be served pretty much direct from the freezer without softening first. But for my taste it was a little too sweet - so next time I shall try it with just 100g of sugar. The vanilla seeds add a depth of flavour and those pleasing little black flecks. But, to be quite honest, I'm not sure they're worth their astronomical price. They pretty much double the cost of the ice cream.

One US-specific comment. Double cream is known as 'heavy cream' here - and seems to me a little runnier than its British counterpart, which is often verging on the buttery. So back in the UK, I might try this with whipping cream instead, or at least make sure that the double cream was of a good pouring consistency.