Vanilla Frozen Custard Recipe (Shake Shack)

Step 1

Heat the cream and milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom. Heat just until mixture starts to simmer, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Step 2

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and salt together until pale yellow and fluffy.

Step 3

Whisk a ladleful of milk-cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Add another ladleful and whisk thoroughly before adding the next (this is called tempering and keeps the eggs from cooking). Gradually add the remaining milk-cream mixture and whisk thoroughly.

Step 4

Pour the custard base back into your saucepan and over medium-low heat gently cook until your custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, around 8-10 minutes.

Step 5

Once thickened, pour the custard through a sieve to remove any lumps. Lastly, whisk in the vanilla extract.

Step 6

Set aside to cool down. Once cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, preferably overnight. (The custard churns faster the colder it is).

Step 7

Pour custard mixture into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions until the custard reaches the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, about 20 minutes.

Step 8

Once the custard resembles soft-serve then quickly transfer to a freezable container. Cover the container and freeze until custard is firm enough to scoop, at least 4 hours.