Root Beer Float Ice Cream

If there's one kitchen appliance I missed using the past year, it's my ice cream maker. While living in our last apartment downtown, my freezer never got cold enough to freeze the bowl so I could make homemade ice cream from scratch. As a result, last summer was pretty sad since I missed out on making so many flavors and trying out new ice cream recipes. So now that we've moved and I have our regular kitchen freezer and a deep freezer out in the garage, I was eager to freeze my bowl so I could get back to churning ice cream! What flavor did I make first? Root beer float ice cream was the winning flavor and also my husband's favorite...

Ice cream has some significant meaning to me because my husband proposed to me on my 30th birthday at a local ice cream parlor. Sadly, the ice cream parlor, Sweet Occassions, is no longer in business, but we'll always have memories of the days we took a stroll and enjoyed countless ice cream cones during the spring and summer months. One flavor my husband always ordered was Root Beer Float. This flavor was a 'special edition' that only was available at random times. I'll never forget how he would eagerly look through the ice cream offerings and see if his flavor was there. Most times, it wasn't and he had to settle for something else.

Well, now he doesn't have to wait for Root Beer Float ice cream because I was able to make it from scratch! In fact, he said that my version was even more flavorful and had a more defined root beer flavor that the one at the ice cream parlor. To make this flavor, I used my trusty Ben & Jerry's ice cream recipe book and prepared their French Vanilla ice cream. I added some root beer extract and voila... root beer ice cream is born. The vanilla extract gives the right amount of sweetness and mimics the vanilla ice cream used in a traditional float while the root beer extract provides a good amount of flavor and color. Together, it's just like a root beer float all rolled in up creamy goodness!

You can find root beer extract at most places... even Walmart! Otherwise, check into specialty online sites like Amazon.com.

Root Beer Float Ice Cream
recipe adapted from Ben & Jerry's

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon root beer extract

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more.

Pour in the cream, milk, and extracts and whisk to blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.