Wicked Witch of the West Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Today marks the 71st anniversary of the premiere of my favorite movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz.  Happy Birthday!  :)

Let's celebrate with some obligatory cake and ice cream, shall we? 

Over the Rainbow Cake (read about it HERE)

And...

Ice cream.  Rum Raisin Ice Cream. 

But "why Wicked Witch of the West Rum Raisin Ice Cream," you ask? 
Let's take a look:

This is what happens to rum raisin ice cream when you eat nearly the entire tub of it, realize you haven't gotten a blog photo of it yet, then set the container holding "just barely enough to make a pretty scoop" on the counter to soften up a bit, log onto the computer...and get totally distracted by The INTERNET. 

(Or more specifically, Weddingbee.)

Remember way back when I promised I would tell you what I made with all those leftover egg yolks from the making of THIS cake?  Making a two-tiered white cake left me with 8 egg yolks just begging to be made into a sweet, choleseterol-laden something.  And that something just happened to be one of my favorite ice cream flavors: Rum Raisin.  I found a great recipe on Epicurious that requires a boat load* of egg yolks** for the custard.  How many is a boat load?  In this case, eight.  Now I know what you're thinking--"Holey moley!  EIGHT yolks!?!?"  Is it rich?  You betcha.  Worth it?  Aboslutely.  So without further ado, here ya go:

Rum Raisin Ice Cream  (Yields about 1.5 quarts)
From Epicurious

1 cup raisins, packed
⅔ cup dark rum

8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
3 cups milk (use 2% or whole, please)
1 ½ cups whipping cream

Combine raisins and rum in small bowl. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Drain raisins, reserving 6 tablespoons rum. Combine in same bowl.  (Since I wanted to tone down the booziness of the ice cream, I brought the rum raisin mixture to a simmer to reduce and cook off some of the alcohol.)

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until blended. Bring milk and whipping cream to a boil in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan; stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens, about 15 minutes (do not boil). Strain custard into bowl. Cool. Add raisin mixture to custard. Refrigerate until cold.

Transfer custard to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. Freeze ice cream in covered container until firm, about 4 hours. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead.)

* not an actual boat-sized boat :)

 ** with that many egg yolks in the custard, you need to be really careful when cooking it or it's Curdle City for you, Buster!  If this happens to you, don't fret!  You'll be running the custard through a strainer or sieve before chilling it down.  Even if the texture looks like ricotta cheese, you won't notice any curdle-y-ness in the finished frozen product.  Promise!