Creme Fraiche Ice Cream with vanilla bean

Creme Fraiche Ice Cream has a lovely, earthy flavor that goes well with fresh fruit, cooked fruit desserts and any type of ice cream sauce. Mmm, it’s so good. 

a glass bowl filled with creme fraiche ice cream with a jar of butterscotch sauce in the background.

I love making ice cream at home. Sure, it’s easy enough to buy ice cream, but it’s fun to play with different flavors when making your own. For years I have used the same cream and milk base and simply added different ingredients to make new flavors.

Ice Cream can be made with diary products other than milk and cream.

Recently, I’ve moved beyond heavy cream and have been experimenting with a variety of dairy products as the base for ice cream. I’ve made Cheesecake Ice Cream using cream cheese as the base. Because of my love affair with buttermilk as an ingredient, I just had to make Buttermilk Ice Cream, YUM!

So now I’m making ice cream with another alternate dairy product, creme fraiche. Have you ever tried creme fraiche? I love it. It has a texture similar to sour cream, but it’s not overtly sour.

I would describe creme fraiche’s flavor as earthy with a bit of a cheesy background note. I know, I know, I’m not making it sound delicious. But creme fraiche really has a specific, wonderful and complex flavor.

I originally made this ice cream last fall to go with Apple Tarte Tatin. Because of the holiday rush I didn’t have time to photograph either the tart or the ice cream. So, no blog post at that time.

Now, ice cream season is coming! It’s time to break out my ice cream maker and get to work. I couldn’t wait to give you this recipe for Creme Fraiche Ice Cream, which has me completely obsessed. Since the recipe was already done, I just had to run a batch and take the photos to get it to you.

Scroll through the process photos to see how-to make Creme Fraiche Ice Cream:

mixing egg yolks for creme fraiche ice cream
Whisk the yolks with the sugar
adding creme fraiche to custard to make ice cream
Stir the creme fraiche into the custard. It will thin out a bit as it heats up.
cooking custard for homemade ice cream
Cook the custard until it coats the back of a spatula or spoon.
a container of creme fraiche ice cream with a scooper
a glass bowl with two scoops of creme fraiche ice cream and a spoon

The rich earthy flavor of Creme Fraiche Ice Cream complements sweet and tart fruit flavors. It pairs perfectly with fruit pie, fruit compote, fruit preserves or fresh fruit.

Ummm, I guess I shouldn’t admit to eating an embarassingly big bowl of Creme Fraiche Ice slathered with Butterscotch Sauce last weekend. But I did, and I’m not sorry. It was totally worth the calories…

Now that you’ve made this recipe what should you do with all the extra egg whites? Check out this collection of recipes that use extra whites for some great ideas.

If you love this recipe as much as I do please consider giving it 5 stars.

creme fraiche ice cream 3a
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4.38 from 40 reviews

Creme Fraiche Ice Cream Recipe

Creme Fraiche Ice Cream has a lovely, earthy flavor that goes well with fresh fruit, cooked fruit desserts and any type of ice cream sauce.
Prep Time10 minutes
Bake Time10 minutes
Chilling Time6 hours
Total Time6 hours 20 minutes
8 servings
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Ingredients

  • 21 oz creme fraiche
  • ½ vanilla bean ( or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
  • 8 oz whole milk (1 cup)
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 8 oz granulated sugar (1 cup)
  • teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Combine 21 oz creme fraiche and 8 oz whole milk in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean and add them to the cream along with the pod. Heat over medium high. As the mixture heats up it will thin out a bit. Heat just until scalding hot. Do not allow the milk come to a full boil.
  • While the milk mixture is heating, whisk together 6 egg yolks, 8 oz granulated sugar and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Whisk the scalding hot milk into the yolks. Return the mixture to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook the custard, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of a spoon or spatula.
  • Strain the mixture into a bowl, allow it to cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6-8 hours, until very cold. Run the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.
  • Pack into a container. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ice cream and cover the container with a lid. Freeze 8 hours or overnight.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 317kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 193mg | Sodium: 77mg | Potassium: 151mg | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 704IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!

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14 Comments

  1. Eileen, I have tried many of your ice cream recipes and have loved them all. I was given a bottle from a dairy of fresh southern custard, which I prefer not to drink since it is a sweet custardy drink like eggnog without all the spices. I was wondering if I could use it in an ice cream recipe and what would I replace the cream or the milk and since it has egg in it haw would that affect the mixture. Any ideas form you or a reader how to use this would be greatly appreciated. I am deciding which of your ice creams to make for x-mas now.

    1. Hi Brad, I can’t say for sure, but I think it will probably fit. Worst comes to worst, you might just have to scoop a little out and eat it!

  2. Thank you! I have a small 1 quart machine so I was trying to decide if I should use the full recipe or make a little less and adjust the amounts.

    1. Hi Brad, you’ll get about 3.5 – 4 cups of ice cream. The exact volume will depend on your ice cream maker and how much air gets incorporated into the frozen ice cream.

  3. Homemade ice cream is so beyond good! So much fun and so exciting. It is the perfect treat for the summer months and also after dinner treat.

  4. I agree with you Eileen with the fact that making your own ice cream is the best. And it definitely fun and exciting. Thanks for sharing!