Perfect Bliss: Malted Milk Ice Cream

I'm afraid I ought to warn you. This is probably NOT the place to be if you're serious about that new year's resolution to lose that last ten pounds.  I could wax apologetic for you, but it wouldn't be genuine.  Cuz I believe with every last ounce of my soul that this ice cream is worth the couple more hours minutes on the elliptical that you'll have to spend sweating it off.

And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must confess to you that I, Lo, am an absolute FIEND for malted milk powder. I grew up sprinkling the stuff right on my vanilla ice cream. Drinking it mixed into my milk. Heck, I've even eaten it straight from the jar (yeah, it's powdery, but so is cocaine are pixie stix) It's true. I'll settle for a chocolate shake. But, make it a malt (double thick) and I'll be yours forever.

But, even so -- when I sent Peef out to find malted milk balls so that we could make this recipe (yes, I'm working diligently on another blog post entitled "Why My Husband Rocks" -- but that will have to wait, I'm talking about ice cream here), I had ABSOLUTELY no idea that a single ice cream recipe would have such a profound impact on me.

Because I'm not normally a "sweets" person.  I'm a "salty" sortofa gal. My junk food fantasies consist of things like salt & vinegar potato chips, Flamin' Hot Fritos, and loaves of buttery garlic bread. 

I'm also a big veg-head.  But, trust me, right now the vegetable kingdom is virtually dead to me. I could care less about kale. Broccoli. Beets. Brussels sprouts.

Honestly, I may eat nothing else for the remainder of the week.

And you don't have to take our word for it. It also gets Michael Ruhlman's stamp of approval. And Amateur Gourmet, Adam Roberts, even wrote a SONG about it.

Malted Milk Ice Cream
Adapted slightly from: The Perfect Scoop (David Lebovitz)

1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
2/3 cup (150 g) sugar
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (90 g) malt powder
6 large egg yolks
2 cups (350 g) malted milk balls, coarsely chopped

Warm the whole milk with the sugar in a medium saucepan. In a large bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, vanilla, and malt powder. Set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof plastic spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and whisk it into the malted milk mixture. Stir until cool over an ice bath (or out in the snow, which is what we did here in Wisconsin in January)

Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. As you remove the ice cream from the machine, fold in the chopped malted milk balls.


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