Instructions

1. First make the custard for your ice-cream. Combine the milk, cream and pinch of salt into a saucepan with the vanilla beans, which you have split and scraped the seeds out into the milk/cream. Heat gently until the mixture reaches simmering point, then turn off, cover and allow to sit for the vanilla and lemon rind flavours to infuse about 5-10 minutes.
2. In the meantime, combine the caster sugar and egg yolks (the whites can be used for something else or frozen for later use) into a mixing bowl and whisk until light and fluffy.
3. Strain the milk/cream mixture into a jug and very slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks. Be very slow and careful at this stage because if you pour too quickly, the heat of the milk could curdle the eggs and you're going to end up with scrambled egg yolks. Not nice.
4. When it's all combined and smooth, return to a clean pan or the top of a double boiler, scraping out all the little vanilla seeds and return the vanilla beans into the mixture as well. Gently heat the custard, stirring all the time until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. It could take between 10-15 minutes for this to occur.
5. If cooking it on direct heat instead of over a double boiler you must be very careful once again not to scramble the eggs, so never leave its side and stir it continually. If you feel the bottom heating up too quickly, remove from the heat and stir until the temperature stabilises and to ensure the mixture remains smooth as silk.
6. I find that the custard is ready when a temperature of 75C has been reached and held for a minute or two. Given this, investing in a thermometer is a good idea.
7. Pour the custard into a jug, remove the vanilla beans and set into a bowl with ice to begin cooling. Stir for another minute or so and then cover with cling film, pushing the film gently onto the surface of the custard. This prevents a skin from forming.
8. Depending on the style of ice-cream churner you have, place into the fridge to cool according to your equipment's instructions. Mine doesn't have a compressor, so I have to chill the custard for a minimum of 5 hours. One day I'll buy an electronic one, but until then the one I have sort of does the job.
9. Mix the washed, hulled and chopped strawberries in a bowl with the 3 tablespoons sugar and lemon juice. Cover and place in the fridge for at least two hours before churning the ice-cream. Overnight is fine.
10. Prepare the easter eggs at least an hour before churning the ice-cream. The size of the eggs and number you wish to make is up to you. I had some simple normal egg-sized ones, so I used those. They were a good single serve sized treat. Cut the eggs in half following the natural join seam. Using a sharp knife, gently trace a line around the seam and slowly ease your way into the egg, then ease them apart so you have two halves. Do this with all the eggs and place them gently into a bowl or plate.
11. Place the plate with the eggs into the fridge until you're ready to use them.
12. Churn your ice-cream in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
13. While the ice-cream is churning, strain the prepared strawberries. There will be quite a large amount of syrup to drain off, which you can use for cocktails or as a sauce on extra ice-cream. Yum.
14. Place half the strawberries into a small food processor and blitz until they're mushed but not pureed. Add the rest of the strawberries and blitz again, just once or twice, so there are some bigger strawberry chunks left.
15. Add the strawberries to the ice-cream sometime during the last five minutes of churning.
16. If you have a flat toastie maker, warm it up. It makes a great surface to melt your egg half when you are sticking it back together. Otherwise, just heat up a frying pan - but be careful of heating a pan with nothing in it, you don't want it to burn, so take it off the heat once warm! You may need to return it now and then to reheat, but it's better than ruining your pan.
17. Take one chilled egg half and spoon enough ice-cream mixture into it to just come over the top.
18. Take another egg half and place it, cut side down, onto the warmed surface - just long enough to soften the chocolate. Very quickly place it over the ice-cream and press gently onto the other half of the egg. Hold for a second or two, then place straight into a plate or bowl in the freezer.
19. Repeat this until you have done all the eggs. Any leftover ice-cream can then just be spooned into a bowl and frozen as usual.
20. Oh, and happy Easter!

• Course : Dessert, Snack
• Recipe Type : Dessert, ice-cream, Snacks, Sweet treats
• Ingredient : Caster sugar, Chocolate, Cream, Dairy, Egg, Lemons, Milk, Strawberries, Sugar, Vanilla Beans