Root beer float ice cream

You might think I'm a crazy person when I tell you that I don't drink a lot of soda (or "pop," as my husband refers to it). I don't have any soda in my house, and I very rarely have it when I'm out and about. If and when I do have soda, it's usually root beer. My brother and I would always try to find reasons to ask my mom to buy us Barq's root beer when we were little, and it's definitely my favorite flavor of soda whenever I do have it.

Occasionally, I love to indulge in a classic root beer float. I didn't get a chance to have any this summer so I'm making up for it now. I saw this recipe pop up on Joelen's website a while ago and hadn't gotten around to making it yet. I had a good excuse though--I couldn't find root beer extract. Now that I've got it, I finally was able to make this root beer float ice cream. Plus, what better way to celebrate National Ice Cream Month?

The root beer flavors in this ice cream are not too strong yet still give me the nostalgia of sipping on a root beer float. The vanilla hues remind me of the generous scoops of ice cream that I prefer in my floats. The overall taste is creamy and fantastic, and I almost want to find a straw to slurp up the last bits of ice cream that are left in the bottom of my bowl. The method of making this ice cream is different than the custard base that I'm used to making, but it still turned out really well!  It is a Ben & Jerry's recipe, after all!

Ingredients

• 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

Directions

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.

Source: Ben & Jerry's, via What's Cookin, Chicago?