Cinnamon Ice Cream

I love using cinnamon in baking, especially with apples but it never occurred to me to use it in ice cream until I was going through David Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop. It suddenly hit me that cinnamon ice cream would be the absolute perfect accompaniment to apple pie.  It was a match made in heaven. This ice cream has a silky, creamy texture and a cinnamon flavor that is so deep and complex that we all went, "wow", after the first bite. It is almost like the luxurious taste and feel of homemade rice pudding without the rice. I made this for Thanksgiving to pair with the mini apple pies and it was definitely a successful flavor combination. I had some leftover and would take just a spoonful a night until it was gone. I wanted to savor it for as long as possible.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Directions
Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. Once warm, cover, remove the the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium 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 heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thicken and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.