Maple Fig Ice Cream Food

MAPLE ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Whisk 1/2 cup maple syrup and egg yolks together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Stir remaining maple syrup, half-and-half, cream, and salt together in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring often, until simmering. Reduce heat to medium.
• Add about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture to the egg mixture. Whisk constantly to prevent the eggs from cooking. Repeat with another 1/2 cup of the cream mixture. Pour egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula. Cook, stirring constantly, until custard thickens and coats the back of the spatula, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat.
• Strain custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl. Whisk in vanilla extract. Set the bowl in an ice bath and stir the custard occasionally until cooled to room temperature, 15 to 30 minutes.
• Remove the bowl from the ice bath, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours, or overnight.
• Churn cold custard in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions, until it reaches the consistency of soft serve. Serve right away or cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze until firm.

CHUCK'S MAPLE ICE CREAM

Steps:

• In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream and salt to a simmer.
• In a bowl, whisk together the maple syrup and egg yolks. Pour about one-third of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, and then stir the egg yolk mixture into the remaining cream in the saucepan. Stir to blend well. Lower the heat to medium-low and stir constantly until hot and slightly thickened. Do not boil.
• Pour through a strainer into a bowl. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Cover and chill thoroughly.
• Freeze in your ice cream machine following manufacturer's directions. Add the maple flakes.

VANILLA-MAPLE ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Combine the heavy cream, milk, maple syrup and vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until steaming. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Ladle about half of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking. Then pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture, whisking.
• Return the pan to medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve set over a heatproof bowl or large liquid measuring cup. Return the vanilla pod to the custard. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until the custard stops steaming. Refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker (remove the vanilla pod) and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to a container, cover and freeze at least 4 hours.