Because it’s December in Minnesota, I thought I’d make ice cream.

It’s never too cold for ice cream in Minnesota, doncha know.

Why not make ice cream when I bought my ice cream maker during the 100 degree days we were having in July?

Well, that just would have made too much sense.

Heat up the house baking cream cheese brownies and quick breads? July is perfect for that. Making ice cream? Nope nope nope, not happening. We clearly need to wait for a chilly, misty, gloomy day before we fill our homes with the smell of fresh baked bread whir of the ice cream maker.

But in all seriousness, homemade ice cream is nothing to be intimidated by. I was surprised by how simple it was. But be warned, it is a time consuming process, so I’d plan to make your ice cream a day or two before you actually need it.

And as for the carrot cake to add in, I happen to know a great little recipe you can find over here.

So come on, people! Let’s do it Minnesota Style and have ice cream in December!

Ingredients (makes about 1 quart):

• 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cups 1% milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 vanilla bean
• 5 large egg yolks (save your egg whites for an omelet!)
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2-3 slices of carrot cake, with cream cheese frosting, crumbled

Directions:

1. In a heavy saucepan, stir together the cream, milk, half the sugar, and the salt. Slice the vanilla bean in half and gently scrape out the seeds from both sides with a knife. Add the seeds and bean halves to the pan.

2. Place your pan over medium-high heat. When the mixture just begins to bubble around the edges, taking it off the heat, and let it steep, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. While that steeps, whisk the eggs and remaining sugar together in a medium sized bowl until smooth. Set aside until the cream mixture has finished steeping. Then, uncover the cream and put the pan back over medium-high heat. When it’s gets to a very gently simmer, reduce the heat to medium.

4. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture and add it to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. It’s really important to whisk constantly, because you don’t want to accidentally cook your eggs. If you suspect your cream got a little too hot, let it cool slightly before adding it in.

5. Add another 1/2 cup of the hot cream mix to the egg yolks, then add the egg yolks to the rest of the cream in the pan, stirring continuously as you add them in..

6. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until it’s thickened and coats the back of a spoon. If you ran you finger across the back of the spoon (It’s HOT be careful!!!) you should see a clear path, no cream running into where you finger has swiped the spoon. This will probably take about 2 minutes.

7. Strain the base through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container, at least 1 quart in size. put the container in an ice-water bath, and stir it occasionally until it’s cooled to room temp. Then cover the mixture and freeze for at least 2 hours.

8. When you’re ready to make your ice cream, stir in the vanilla extract. If you’ve left it in the freezer longer than 2 hours (like…overnight, like me.) you will need to let it thaw to achieve this. You can pop it in the microwave for 10 second increments until it’s thawed if you lack patience (like me). But be careful, you want it to be a pudding-like consistency, not soupy.

9. Freeze your ice cream according to the directions that came with your ice cream maker. The last 5-10 minutes of churning time is when you should add in your crumbled carrot cake to make sure it gets mixed throughout.