Peppermint Ice Cream

One of my kids (who shall remain nameless) is absolutely crazy about ice cream. Her friends are also obsessed with ice cream and it seems that they can't get together without ending up at an ice cream shop (oops, I said HER.  So now you know that Sean is not the child I am talking about).

My daughter's favorite ice cream flavor is peppermint.  Yesterday, I had time to make a batch of ice cream.  There was no doubt which flavor I would make!



Today's Playlist

• "The Pretender"...Foo Fighters
• "Love You Madly"...Cake
• "Welcome To Paradise"...Green Day
• "Gotta Get Away"...The Offspring
• "What I Like About You"...The Romantics
• "Should I Stay Or Should I Go"...The Clash
• "Creepin' Up The Backstairs"...The Fratellis
• "Joker & The Thief"...Wolfmother
• "On My Way"...Billy Boy On Poison

Peppermint Ice Cream (makes 1 quart)
Printable recipe

• 2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint sticks, starlight peppermints or candy canes

Gather your ingredients.

Separate the egg yolks into a small bowl.

Stir the yolks briskly using a fork.

Set up an ice bath with two large bowls.  If you have a set of nesting bowls, use the two largest bowls.

You want to be sure that there is not a huge discrepancy in size of the bowls, because if the inner bowl is too small it may end up submerged in water.  You could also use a saucepan instead of a bowl, letting the handle hang over the edge so it doesn't submerge below the water line.

Heat the milk in a large saucepan over low/medium heat until it reaches 175 degrees.  (I use a thermometer to check the temperature. If you don't have a thermometer, you should heat the milk just until you see bubbles start to appear around the edges.  Do not let the milk boil!).

Add a pinch of salt and whisk in the sugar, stirring until completely dissolved.

Temper the eggs by whisking in about 1/3 cup of the hot milk mixture.

Whisking constantly, add the tempered eggs into the pan.  

Continue to whisk over low/medium heat,  until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon and the thermometer reads between 160 and 175 degrees.  Do not allow the mixture to boil!

When the mixture has thickened and reached the desired temperature, pour it into the ice bath.  Do not scrape it out of the sauce pan!

I pour it through a fine-mesh strainer into the bowl just to catch any tiny bits.

This is why I don't want you to scrape the mixture out of the saucepan.  It's only natural that it would thicken at the bottom of the pan, and you only want the liquid to transfer into the ice bath.

Allow the mixture to sit in the ice bath for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to dissipate the heat.  You don't necessarily want it to chill completely, you just want to bring the temperature down so that it is no longer hot.

(The more you bring the temperature down now, however, the quicker it will chill completely when you put it into your refrigerator.)

Whisk in the heavy cream.

And the peppermint extract.  I use 1 1/2 teaspoons of extract, but adjust the amount according to your taste preference.  Between 1 and 2 teaspoons is the perfect range.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill; it needs to be cold when you put it into your ice cream machine.  One hour is usually enough; the mixture will be fine overnight, however, so if you don't have time in your schedule to prepare the ingredients, give it time to refrigerate and then churn in your machine, you can break it up over two days.  If you are going to put it in the fridge for an extended period of time, however, be sure to press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the mixture when you refrigerate it so that a skin does not form.

After the mixture has chilled, pour it into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions.  It took about 30 minutes in my machine.

Once the ice cream has finished you can add in the crushed peppermint. (Adding it before the ice cream has finished will only dissolve it and/or it will sink to the bottom.)

Pour the crushed candy into the machine while it is still running and let it churn for about 30 seconds, until it is thoroughly mixed in.

I decided to make a few ice cream sandwiches.  It's easy to spread the ice cream before you freeze it!

Just spoon it onto one cookie, top it with another and then place the cookies into a freezer-safe container before putting them into the freezer.

Transfer the ice cream into a container for freezing.

Whether you prefer your ice cream in a sandwich,

...or in a dish, it's the perfect treat during the summer heat!  Enjoy.