Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Growing up, our love of all things chocolate and peanut butter didn’t transcend the ice cream realm. When we were a kid, we were never a fan of chocolate ice cream, and we didn’t even discover peanut butter ice cream until college. Rather, we were all about vanilla and if you could get us vanilla ice cream with lots of chunky stuff mixed in, all the better. As a result, cookies and cream was our absolute favorite variety of ice cream for the longest time. We couldn’t get enough of those big chunks of cookies – what kid wouldn’t love that?! We started to wane on it as we got older, because the ice cream companies seemed to start skimping on the amount of cookies in the ice cream and, even more important, the size of the chunks. We needed big chunks, darn it! Luckily, we've taken to making ice cream at home and have resurrected our love of cookies and cream ice cream. When you make it yourself, you can make the cookie chunks as big as you want and add in as much as you want! Ahh, the beauty of being a grown-up :)
We recently picked up the brand-new ice cream book, Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, which is written by the owners of the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco. This was the first recipe we made from it, but we're dying to try many more. If you have an ice cream maker and enjoy converting your kitchen into a creamery, you definitely want to pick up this book!
We are in love with this ice cream – it’s by far a standby version of cookies and cream that we've ever had. The base of this recipe is a wonderfully rich sweet cream, vanilla-scented ice cream and is loaded with chopped Oreo cookies. You might remember us talking about our grandpap’s love of Oreo cookies a few years ago when we made the Oreo Look-a-Like Cake. Since he has always adored the cookies, each year when we celebrate Father’s Day and his birthday in tandem, we try to think of a fun, new spin for dessert. This year, we used this ice cream as the base for an extra-special birthday treat. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, you need to churn this up and sit down with a big bowl and a spoon. Trust us, you’re not going to want to share!
One year ago: Date, Rum and Pecan Ice Cream
Two years ago: Southern Banana Pudding
Three years ago: Seven-Layer Bars
Four years ago: Eclairs and Cream Puffs
Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Yield: 1 quart A rich from-scratch ice cream- 5 egg yolks
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1¾ cups (416.5 ml) heavy cream
- ¾ cup (183 ml) whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups (200 g) chopped Oreo cookies, about 15 cookies
- Set a wire-mesh sieve over a large bowl. Whisk together the egg yolks and ¼ cup of the sugar in a large bowl; set aside.
- Warm the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, cream, milk and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to simmer, slowly drizzle it into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir in the vanilla extract. Place the bowl in an ice bath and stir occasionally, until the mixture reaches room temperature. Cover the bowl and place the mixture in the refrigerator and chill at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is ready, layer it into your freezer-safe container with alternating layers of the chopped cookies, beginning and ending with the ice cream.
Notes
Nutritional values are based on the whole recipe
- Yield: 1 quart
- Prep: 1 hour
- Total: 3 hours
Ingredients
- 5 egg yolks
- ½ cup ( 100 g ) granulated sugar, divided
- 1¾ cups ( 416.5 ml ) heavy cream
- ¾ cup ( 183 ml ) whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups ( 200 g ) chopped Oreo cookies, about 15 cookies
Method
- Set a wire-mesh sieve over a large bowl. Whisk together the egg yolks and ¼ cup of the sugar in a large bowl; set aside.
- Warm the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, cream, milk and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture begins to simmer, slowly drizzle it into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir in the vanilla extract. Place the bowl in an ice bath and stir occasionally, until the mixture reaches room temperature. Cover the bowl and place the mixture in the refrigerator and chill at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is ready, layer it into your freezer-safe container with alternating layers of the chopped cookies, beginning and ending with the ice cream.
