Black Pepper Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 cups 1% low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 3 large egg yolks

Directions

1. 1

   Warm the milk, sugar, peppercorns, salt and 1 cup of the half and half in a medium saucepan. (I heated it until it almost boiled.) Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour.

2. 2

   Rewarm the peppercorn-infused mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the yolks, then pour it all back into the saucepan.

3. 3

   Quickly rinse the bowl, pour the remaining half and half into it, and set a mesh strainer on top.

4. 4

   Stir the custard constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula until it thickens. Pour the custard through the strainer, pressing the peppercorns gently to extract as much flavor as possible.

5. 5

   Discard the peppercorns and stir the custard into the cream.

6. 6

   Chill thoroughly (4-6 hours, or 2 hours over an ice bath).

7. 7

   Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.