It turns out being able to have a little agave nectar has also let me solve an ongoing problem with making a good ice cream base.  Stevia-sweetened ice cream bases just never had the right texture, and were never quite sweet enough, either.  My dad even likes this vanilla ice cream, and he’s not on a sugar-free diet yet.  🙂

You’ll want to make the ice cream base well in advance of when you want to eat it, since it needs to cook, chill, churn, and freeze!  It’s worth the wait, though — and it gives me something to do with all the egg yolks I’ve saved up from making biscuits all the time.  🙂

Low-Glycemic Vanilla Ice Cream

Yield:  1 to 1 1/2 quarts, I think

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cups half-and-half
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 T vanilla
• 3 T agave nectar

Directions:

1.  In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and heat over low to medium until the mixture gives off steam steadily.  Stir often, scraping the bottom of the pan well.

2.  Remove from heat, and strain the mixture into a different container through the finest-mesh sieve you have.  This will strain out any bits of egg or cream that cooked up by themselves and aren’t integrated smoothly into the custard.

3.  Cover with clingwrap pressed against the surface of the custard, and put in the fridge to chill until cold.  (I usually cook the custard either first thing in the morning so it can chill all day and be churned at night, or in the evening so it can chill all night and be churned the next morning.)

4.  Churn in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.  Remove from ice cream maker and store in freezer an hour or two to harden; then, it’s ready to serve!