Secrets from the Cookie Princess: Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

I promised you I would do something delicious with those cookies. And here it is. Creamy, delicious homemade vanilla ice cream studded with chocolate cookies that would give any other cookies and cream ice cream a run for it's money. I made this while Dave was away on a business trip. It was the first day of a week-long trip. I emailed him to tell him that while I made ice cream and it was freakin' awesome, there may not be any when he got home because I might need to eat it all (I was good--there was plenty left to share with him by the end of the week). The custard for this ice cream cooked up beautifully and the ingredients were so simple. This is the kind of recipe that convinces you to buy an ice cream maker if you don't already have one or to go hunting for the one you own but haven't used in ages.

When the World Peace Cookies failed on me, I knew the only thing they'd be good for was cookies and cream ice cream, but I was uninspired and couldn't bring myself to make it a priority. And then Michelle at Brown Eyed Baker slapped me in the face with this gorgeous recipe and practically forced me to make it immediately if not sooner. Seriously, I think she posted the recipe at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week I had this wonderful treat. Rarely am I inspired by a recipe to make.it.right.now. But resistance was futile. And I had ingredients in my fridge and cookies in my freezer that called out to be crumbled into a delicious frozen dessert to counter the hot summer weather. Although my ingredients were light cream and skim milk, I still used them and would you believe the results were still undeniably creamy and just as good as I imagine their heavy and whole counterparts would be? Another slight change is that when I added the cookies, I took about 2-3 cookies and crushed them to finer crumbs rather than chunks. I stirred these crumbs into the ice cream base before layering them in my container alternating with the bigger chunks. I just love that speckled look of cookie crumbs taking over the lovely vanilla ice cream. If you haven't made homemade ice cream yet, start with this recipe. It's easy and the results are magical. You'll never buy store-bought cookies and cream ice cream again.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/4 cups heavy or light cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely crumbled Oreo or chocolate cookies
1 cup chopped Oreo or chocolate cookies

Place a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until combined. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, warm remaining sugar, cream, milk and salt over medium heat.

Once it's begun to simmer, gradually stream the warmed milk into the whisked egg yolks, whisking constantly to temper. Transfer warmed egg yolks back into saucepan. Stir mixture constantly with a silicone spatula, scraping sides and bottom of pan, until it thickens and coats the spatula (at least 5 minutes, but maybe 10).

Pour custard through the strainer and into the large bowl. Discard any remnants in the strainer and stir vanilla into the custard.

Place bowl of custard in an ice bath until mixture comes to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Churn ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the machine's directions (Note: for the standard KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment, it's about 10-15 minutes). Once churned, stir in 1/4 cup of fine cookie crumbs.