It all started with a trip to Penzey's Spices, where I picked up a little tube of vanilla beans.
What better thing to make with real vanilla beans than vanilla ice cream?
And, seeing as it was the husb's bday, pairing them with chocolate chip cookies (his favorite) just felt like the right thing to do.
I decided to use an Alton Brown recipe.
Alton knows ice cream.
Really, Alton knows everything. He's a pretty trustworthy source.
Here's what you'll need (a bit modified from the original):
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy whipping cream
¾ cup of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons peach or apricot preserves (not jelly)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Have you ever split and scraped a vanilla bean before? It's super easy.
Here, I'll show you.


Here's what you'll need to make up a batch of Nestle's high-altitude chocolate chip cookies
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tsp. water mixed in
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
⅔ cup granulated white sugar
⅔ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cup chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour (with water), baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, white sugar, butter, and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, until creamy. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.




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