Fact: I love all things malted. I attribute this to the many “chocolate malteds” that my grandparents treated me to as a child. Malts are way better than shakes in my humble opinion.

I decided to make vanilla ice cream with a little malted powder thrown in for good measure. This is me opening a vanilla bean. Look at that manicure! Yeah, that didn’t last very long… Did some dishes later that day and there it went. Ah well.

I love the way the vanilla bean flecks dot the custard. Beautiful.

This ice cream was the perfect compliment to the strawberry pie that I made the other day but of course it is quite good all by itself too…

Malted Vanilla Ice Cream (adapted from a recipe from www.countryliving.com/icecream)

• 2 cups whole milk
• ¾ cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup malted milk powder

In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Drop in split vanilla bean. Place pan over medium-high heat and whisk until mixture reaches a simmer. Lower heat to medium and whisk for 5 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Strain mixture into large bowl, then whisk in half-and-half, cream, vanilla, and malted milk powder. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

Pour mixture into ice-cream maker; process according to manufacturer instructions.