TAMPA, Fla. — In between the GooberDoodle cookie sandwiches and the Banana Cheese Pie sits our dish: Vanilla Ice Cream at Little Midway, the newest member of the Epicurean and Bern's Family in Tampa. 

Led by Pastry Chef Heather Birr, Little Midway is whipping up classic Bern's desserts for a new generation. 

This is how Birr concocts ice cream from scratch: 

"We have heavy cream, milk, egg yokes sugar and vanilla beans." 

And the skinny vanilla beans are the stars of the show. 

"So the outside is actually the pod," Birr said. "Inside are the vanilla beans which is the part that you actually eat."

She flattens and cuts them lengthwise before scraping out the beans, them working them into the sugar.  

"Yes so you just want to break them up -that way the sugar ends up being vanilla flavored sugar rather than just plain and it really incorporates the flavor

"I think this is like one of the things that makes a big difference like actual vanilla bean ice cream and what you would get that’s like the vanilla extract."

The chef adds the vanilla sugar to the cream and milk, leaving in the pods for maximum flavor. After separating the egg yokes, the sweet mixture. 

"And then we’re going to strain it to get out those vanilla beans and let it sit overnight to incorporate the flavors," Birr said.

The mixture goes into the ice cream maker, where it is frozen and fluffed in a matter of minutes!