How to Temper Eggs

If you’re not sure how to make ice cream, you probably are clueless in how to temper an egg.  Maybe you don’t even know what tempering eggs means!  Not to worry, I’m here to help.  I used to be clueless myself about how to temper eggs.  I made all my ice cream recipes (like my oh so popular blueberry ice cream) eggless.  My first attempts at tempering eggs (which means heating them slowly in a hot liquid) produced pumpkin pie scrambled eggs, not as tasty as it sounds.  But I’ve learned and now find it easy to do, so I’m sharing a step by step photo tutorial with you before sharing my newest ice cream recipe.  Are you ready?!

Start by separating your yolks and whites.  You can save the whites for making frosting, meringue, or add them into scrambled eggs or frittatas.

You can use a handy dandy egg separator which is only a few dollars, but I just pass the egg back and forth between the halves of the shell, letting the whites run out. Once they’re separated, put your yolks in a large bowl.

Give the yolks a good stir.

Now heat your liquids until they’re just starting to boil.  Turn the heat off and use a mug or measuring cup to scoop out about 1/2-3/4 cup of the liquid.

Now vigorously whisk it into the egg yolks.  Fun word vigorously!  You can use a fork to whisk I like to use this silicone tipped whisk because once I’m whisking it in my pot I don’t need to worry about scratching the finish.

Repeat this a couple more times until you have a good amount of liquid mixed with the eggs.

Now comes the scary part that doesn’t really need to be scary.

Turn your burner back to medium and pour the egg mixture back into the pot while whisking continuously.

Just keep whisking away until your liquid thickens and  just starts to bubble.  You don’t want it to get to a rolling boil, just a little simmer.  Remove from heat and you’re done!

I know, the picture above is not on the stove, but I had NO light on the stove!

Most importantly, if you end up scrambling your eggs by accident, cry a little, throw them away, and try again.  We’ve ALL done it!  Now you know how to temper your own eggs, so make sure you’ve got some fresh or frozen strawberries to make the oh so addicting ice cream recipe coming up this week.