Popcorn Ice Cream

A few weeks ago, my friend Stacy mentioned on Twitter that she had a bunch of egg yolks left after making macaroons for Easter & asked for suggestions on how to use them. My immediate answer was ICE CREAM! Stacy confessed that she'd never made ice cream, so I invited her (a few other foodies friends) over for an ice cream tutorial.

I wanted to try something new & thought that Popcorn Ice Cream over at Almost Bourdain sounded intriguing. We had to adapt the recipe though, since the original only calls for 1 egg and we had 6 yolks to use.

To make our batch of POPCORN flavored, we simply heated 1 1/4 cups EACH of whole milk & heavy cream with 1 cup sugar & a few big handfuls buttered popcorn (real popcorn with real butter, not that microwaved shit) in a medium saucepan until the sugar melted & the mixture just started to bubble.

Remove the pan from the heat & let the flavors infuse for 15-30 minutes. Then, strain the mixture through cheesecloth to remove the popcorn.

 

Meanwhile, whisk 6 egg yolks in a large bowl.

When the cream mixture is strained, slowly whisk it into the yolk to temper the eggs. Here, you are gently heating the egg yolks with the warm cream. GO SLOW. You don't want to scramble the eggs.

Return the mixture back the pan & heat over medium-low, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. As you stir, scrape the bottom & sides of the pan. Again, GO SLOW...if you heat the mixture too quickly, the eggs with curdle.

Strain the thickened custard into a clean bowl & chill until ready to freeze (we used an ice bath to bring the temperature down quickly). The key to making ice cream at home is to have your custard ice-cold before churning. When ready, churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

The finished ice cream was very yellow from the yolks, which was good because it looked like popcorn. It, surprisingly, tasted just like buttered popcorn, too. We ended up topping each bowl with a sprinkling of coarse salt & several kernels of popcorn for crunch. So interesting...but really quite good!

Thanks to my friend, the ultra-talented Corey Woodruff for taking pics at our little ice cream party!