Vanilla-Maple Ice Cream

I have a really basic ice cream recipe that I use: 1 cup milk, 1 cup cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla. I like it because you can just change the vanilla for whatever flavor you like and it works. If I am being fancy I love to do mint leaves, crush them into the sweetener to infuse, add the milk and cream and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. Then strain and freeze in an ice cream maker. Plus, this recipe is easy to remember and makes the ratio clear for basic ice cream.

But now that I am taking refined sugar out of the family diet and using organic raw dairy, I need to tweak it a little. As far as natural sweeteners go, I think sorghum, molasses and maple syrup will work well since they are already liquid and will blend easily. I may try rapadura and letting it dissolve into the cream and milk before freezing. I cannot think of which sweetener to try with my mint ice cream though. I will experiment and let you know what works best. A list of nourishing sweeteners is here.

I ordered some raw cream along with my raw milk this week, both are full of vitamin k2. And I have a lovely grade B maple syrup I buy from Amazon in my fridge for pancakes. The combination of maple and vanilla seemed like a good place to start for my first nourishing ice cream venture. Let me tell you, this vanilla-maple ice cream is soooo good!

Oh, and I found that both of my ice cream makers (yes, I got two for Christmas one year: this one and this one) can hold a larger size than this recipe, so a recipe and a half is the perfect size. Enjoy!

Vanilla-Maple Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups raw cream
1 1/2 cups raw whole milk
3/4 cup organic maple syrup (grade A will be lighter, grade B more robust/vitamin-rich)
1-2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Mix ingredients together well and pour into an ice cream maker to freeze. It should take about 20 minutes if your bowl is properly frozen. It will look like soft serve ice cream. Immediately transfer to a container and place in freezer to ripen for the next day or so. Serve with a piece of vitamin k2-rich shortbread cookie!