The best ice cream ever!

I don't want to be too cocky, but this is really the most delicious ice cream I've ever made! The variations are endlessly, just use your imagination. I like to use vanilla extract and in summer I mix the basic recipe with fresh peaches or berries from our garden. And the good thing about this recipe: you can make it without an ice cream machine!

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs, separated
- 10 Tbsp caster sugar
- 500 ml cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (with seeds) or seeds from a vanilla pod
   (when making vanilla ice cream)
- 2 Tbsp boiling water

Utensils:
- 3 big mixing bowls
- Electric mixer
- Measuring spoons
- Big metal mixing spoon
- 2.5 liter container with lid


Preparation:
Start with separating the eggs. (Make sure no yolk gets mixed in with the whites.) Put the yolks in one bowl (the biggest one you have) and add 5 Tbsp of the caster sugar, the vanilla extract and the 2 Tbsp of boiling water. Beat with the electric mixer until thick and pale. After 3-4 minutes the mixture will become ribbony and has a creamy consistency. Put aside.

Clean the mixing utensils and make sure they're fat free. Add the remaining sugar to the egg whites and beat for approximately 5-6 minutes or until the mixture forms stiff peaks. You can test the consistency by holding the bowl upside down. However, you have to be absolutely sure the egg whites have the right consistency!... Put aside as well.

Last, beat the cream to soft peaks. (You can also beat the cream until stiff peaks form, according to personal taste. This will make your ice cream even more creamier.) If you have over whipped the cream, no worries. Just add some more cold cream and whip again.

Add the cream to the egg yolks and gently fold together with a metal mixing spoon. When combined, add the egg whites and again, fold in gently.

At this stage you can add anything you like. When using fresh fruit, make sure you combine the fruit with a sugar syrup otherwise the fruit will become very dense and will contain (water) crystals, which is not very nice to eat. (Please see the Peach Sorbet recipe on how to make a sugar syrup.) If you like to make a coffee flavoured ice cream, add some strong coffee or espresso to the egg yolk mixture after beating the yolks to a creamy consistency or you can replace the boiling water with the coffee. You can also add instant coffee granules to the egg yolks right at the start. Same with cinnamon.

Pour the mixture in a plastic container and place a lid on the top to prevent 'freezer burn' of a change in flavour. Freeze the ice cream for at least 6-8 hours, preferably overnight, until set.

To create the same effect as shown in the photo above, I melted some good quality chocolate and coated the inside of a paper cupcake case. Make sure you have a fairly thick layer otherwise the chocolate will break when stripping of the paper case. Let the chocolate dry for approximately 10-15 minutes and fill the case with ice cream. Put in the freezer and let the ice cream freeze for at least four hours. Peel the paper off right before serving. You can sprinkle some grated chocolate on top of the ice cream, whipped cream, berries or whatever you fancy.

For the chocolate decorations, I melted some chocolate and filled a small plastic bag. Then cut a small piece from the bag and there it is; your own (budget) piping bag. I made the decorations on a piece of baking paper so it's easy to remove the decorations once they're cool.

The shooter glass contains Brandy and some sweetened whipped cream. You can use all kinds of liquor or omit the alcohol. I've served some chocolate mousse in the bigger glass. See the recipe for how to make the mousse on this Blog.