For the last few weeks, Aaron and I have been spending every Tuesday and Thursday evening watching episodes from previous seasons of Supernatural, getting ready for the series premier October 3. Yes, we’re dorks.

But with this show comes some fun extras. Each time we eat or drink something from the show. One of the main characters, Dean, eats insane food on the show, which is to say he eats all the foods we want to eat on a daily basis but don’t. Whether its apple pie, beer, hamburgers or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, he eats it all and yet he maintains quite the physique. That has to be the least realistic part of this show about ghosts and demons.

So partly for that and secondly because Rebecca, who was joining on last night’s festivities, loves ice cream, I decided Thursday night would be the night we do ice cream. With no recipe in mind, I headed to Safeway to get the essentials you need for ice cream, cream, eggs, vanilla and sugar.

I already had the vanilla and sugar so I really only needed two things if I wanted to make vanilla ice cream. But that’s too easy.

I decided I’d make Nutella ice cream, mostly because Nutella is the most delicious thing ever made. Chocolate and hazelnut, it’s the only combination that can challenge chocolate and peanut butter. Wanna make it? Here’s how you do it.

First you’ll need to get your ingredients together. There are four essential and three optional ingredients. You can switch from cream to half-n-half or milk but you’ll end up with an ice cream that is more ice and less cream.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 plus 1/4 cup Nutella
• 1/4 tsp xanthan or guar gum
• 1 tbsp vanilla vodka
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

In a medium sauce pan heat the cream over medium-high heat. You’ll want it to steam a bit but not boil. Meanwhile, whip your egg yolks and sugar on high until they are a creamy pale yellow consistency.

Move the cream from the sauce pan to a large Pyrex (or similar) pourable pitcher. You’ll need a slow and controlled pouring of the cream into the eggs to prevent the eggs from cooking to a chunky scramble. Slowly pour the cream into the eggs with your mixer on medium. Continue mixing until all the cream is incorporated with the eggs.

Add the Nutella and mix until you have a silky-brown cream with no chunks. Now is when you’ll add the xanthan gum or guar gum and vanilla vodka. If you don’t have either of these you can skip the step. This will help thicken things up and keep the ice cream scoop-able even after being frozen. The vanilla vodka will do the same while adding a subtle vanilla flavor.

Place cream in an air-tight container and into the freezer to cool. Once your cream is quite chilled you’re free to put it in your ice cream maker following its directions. My Cuisinart recommends 30 minutes of churning followed by two or more hours in the freezer. I cheat a bit and put my entire ice cream maker in the freezer which helps speed up the process and seems to make a smoother ice cream.

To add a little crunch and some fun to the ice cream, in the last five minutes of churning, add 1/4 cup of Nutella in small spoonfuls followed by 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts.

So that’s it. Making ice cream really isn’t as difficult as you might think. This recipe only requires four ingredients too. Adding the xanthan/guar gum and vodka helps with freezing and making things smooth and easily scooped but they aren’t necessary. They also allow it to be frozen longer without getting ice crystals.

Everyone that tried a scoop (or two) loved it and it was so much cheaper than two quarts of Bi-Rite ice cream plus no waiting in a two-block long line! Now to experiment with other ice cream concoctions.