The Sweet Success of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Well, I am able to cross another thing off of my bucket list: homemade ice cream. It is a feat that I have been wanting to accomplish ever since I first tasted ice cream. Exaggerated? Maybe. I mean, ice cream tastes great when you eat it out… with friends and whatnot. But I just assumed that you haven’t truly lived until you labor through the ice cream making process (where I got that statement I have no idea.) And I can truthfully say that when I first lay eyes on the ice cream maker that I unwrapped this past Christmas, I had no idea what kind of emotional and physical damage I was getting myself into.

On my first attempt: I managed to lose the instruction manual for the ice cream machine. This means that when I put the liquid into the machine, I watched it churn endlessly for 20 minutes. 40 minutes. 1 hour. 2 hours. Then I realized that reading the instruction manual was actually extremely important.

The second attempt: I messed up the directions and the ingredients. That was a fail on my part. Not that the other time(s) weren’t.

The third attempt: I decided to move away from vanilla ice cream. At the time, I remember thinking of how great it would be to do an exotic flavor, blended with a tangy spice. So I used an orange ice cream recipe, then added a teaspoon of cinnamon. It was horrendous. In an effort to wash out the gross flavor, my mind somehow thought it was a great idea to add even more cinnamon. So I added another teaspoon. Then I added another teaspoon. And, yeah, I added another teaspoon. By that time, the color of the ice cream was so disgusting that I decided to save myself from the inevitable and cruel mocking from my family. Needless to say, my efforts to do so were not rewarded.

On my fourth attempt, I decided that I needed something good. I needed something good, so that I could redeem myself. And this recipe was it. I took the little knowledge of ice cream making I had and completed the process step by step. Then, when I peered over the kitchen counter in hopes that my concoction actually had the appearance of ice cream, I screamed. I had done it.  And it marks the first time I made ice cream from my little kitchen in the country. Needless to say, this was the best ice cream I had ever tasted, taking into account that ice cream tastes best served with success. I hope you enjoy this ice cream as much as I did, and that you have more talent in dairy delights than I do. The taste of success often tastes best with vanilla caramel sauce drizzled all over it.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Adapted from Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (divided)
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup milk (the heavier, the better)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups chopped chocolate cookies (I think Oreo’s work the best)

Directions:
1) In a heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs to break them up, then add 1/4 cup of sugar. Set aside.
2) In a saucepan, stir together the cream, milk, salt and other 1/4 cup of sugar. Put on medium-high heat. When the mixture approaches a bare simmer, reduce the heat to medium.
3) Using a ladle, scoop out some of the cream mixture and add to the egg mixture. Stir, and do it again. After the second time, pour the bowl of eggs into the saucepan. This step was so that the eggs don’t immediately cook when they come in contact with the heat.
4) Cook the mixture carefully over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is thickened (if the mixture coats the back of a spatula or wooden spoon and holds a clear path when you run your finger across the spatula.) If you cook it too long, and it begins to clump out, then use an immersion blender to thin it out again before proceeding.
5) Let cool, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
6) After at least 2 hours, whisk the vanilla into the cold base.
7) Pour into your ice cream machine, and freeze according to the manual (that you wouldn’t have misplaced.) It should look like soft-serve ice cream when it’s done (and remember: you can’t undo an over-churned ice cream.)
8) While the ice cream churns, chop the cookies.
9) Once the ice cream has finished, gently fold the cookies into the ice cream, then put in the freezer or eat right away.

PS: I apologize for the photography on this one… I think that ice cream is the most finicky food to take pictures of because it’s melting and catches light funnily.

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