I Scream, You Scream...

Well, if you're going to make home-made rootbeer, you might as well make vanilla ice cream too. This is the best home-made ice cream I've ever had. It's smooth and rich and creamy and tastes sooooo decadent! Yes, even vanilla ice cream can be decadent--chocolate is not the only flavor in the world. (In fact, you could skip the rootbeer and serve this with those yummy molasses-spice cookies! They don't have chocolate in them either.)

HOME-MADE VANILLA ICE CREAM

2 1/2 cups sugar
3/8 cup flour (that's 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
5 cups milk (whole milk makes it really decadent!)
4 eggs, beaten
4 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp. vanilla

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in the 5 cups milk and heat over medium heat until it thickens--about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove 1 cup hot mixture and gradually beat it into the beaten eggs. Return egg mixture to the saucepan and cook for 1 minute more. Remove from heat and refrigerate until completely cool.

Add heavy cream and vanilla to the mixture; beat well. Pour into your ice-cream freezer and freeze according to directions. (If you don't have an ice-cream freezer, that's really a bummer. Maybe you could borrow someone's. Invite them over for home-made ice cream.)
Totally delicious!

For a tasty variation, make CINNAMON ICE-CREAM. Follow the recipe and directions above, but add 1 tsp. ground cinnamon to the sugar and flour mixture before adding the milk. Omit the vanilla flavoring or add only 1/2 to 1 tsp. when you mix in the cream. Mmmmm--mmm!