Matt's Rich Custard Recipe (also, Ice Cream!)

This is the creamiest custard/ice cream you will ever taste. Recipes like this are commercially unviable so impossible to find unless you make it yourself. Follow along and experience Matt's rich custard (and ice cream!). Ingredients 600ml cream (thickened cream from Woolworths is perfect) 150ml water 6 egg yolks 1/2 cup xylitol (or 1/2 cup sugar) 1/4 teaspoon guar gum (only if proceeding to ice cream) Large pinch of salt 1 tablespoon of butter 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (alcohol base) 1 vanilla bean (optional) Equipment Silicon spatula Sieve/strainer Pot Glad wrap Digital temperature probe Ice cream maker (only if proceeding to ice cream) Method 1. Mix guar gum evenly through xylitol/sugar (guar gum only required for ice cream). 2. Combine cream, water, salt, xylitol mix and vanilla, in a pot. 3. While gently stirring, heat pot to fully dissolve ingredients (about 60C is fine) 4. Allow pot to cool below ~50C while preparing egg yolks in a mixer bowl. 5. Gently whisk egg yolks while dribbling cream mix in. Dribble slowly at first to prevent heat-shocking the eggs, gradually speeding up pouring in the remaining liquid. 6. Pour liquid mix into a pot through a sieve to remove any lumps of egg and guar gum. 7. Add butter and scraped vanilla bean seeds to custard and heat to an absolute maximum of 83C, making sure to slow down heat and stir well as you approach 80-83C.  If any part of the mixture gets to 85+ it will set and make a lumpy custard! 8. Once 83C is reached, cool custard quickly to get it out of the danger zone (75C+) Hot custard is now ready to eat, or proceed to the next step. 9. FOR COLD CUSTARD: pour into a bowl and cover with glad wrap, pressing the glad wrap down to touch the surface of the custard, which will prevent condensation and skins forming. Cool for hours in a refigerator. 10. FOR ICE CREAM: pour cold custard (refrigerate overnight) into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions. The colder the custard to begin with, the better the ice cream. 11. Remove ice cream from maker which will be at soft serve consistency. Freeze overnight for a hard, supermarket style ice cream. TROUBLESHOOTING Ice cream too hard/soft after freezing overnight? Adjust cream/water ratio. Higher fat = softer final result. More water = firmer ice cream. Still can't get ice cream soft enough? Cheat by adding a dash of vodka before churning in ice cream maker. Icicles in your ice cream? You didn't freeze the custard fast enough. Make sure the mix is cold as possible before churning. Grainy ice cream? Your temperatures are wrong. Either you went too hot in the final cook separating some of the fats and creating a grainy texture. OR you didn't dissolve all the ingredients properly in the first cook - heat higher and longer.