V is for Vanilla Bean

Who doesn't love Cheesecake Factory's Vanilla Bean Cheesecake??



Then I bet these Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Bars would be almost as good:



But have you ever baked anything with an actual vanilla bean?



I sure haven't, which is one of the reasons why I am intimidated by this recipe for Real Vanilla Bean Buttercream (the other reason being you have to boil sugar to a specific temperature). I browsed around for other vanilla bean recipes and hit on one for crème anglaise that looked pretty simple (it's combined here with a recipe for cream cheese bread pudding, which sounds a-maz-ing!): it's only egg yolks, sugar, and hot milk, and usually flavored with vanilla.



That looks like it would sweeten any recipe!

(Ok then I had to wonder what to do with the leftover egg WHITES after using those 4 egg yolks. I happened to find this recipe for Berry-Topped Pavlova that also looks creamy delicious and simple, and uses, ta-da, 4 egg whites. HmmmmmMMMMmmmmmm....also, the Sour Cream Pound Cake I linked a few entries back also uses 4 extra egg whites... HMMMMMM again...am pretty tempted to make this as another office treat...)

But wait, I'm not quite done... no entry on vanilla bean would be complete without a mention of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.



If you can split vanilla beans, this is the treat to make.