Flavor of the Week – Mint Oreo Ice Cream

When I was little, mint cookies and cream was my absolute favorite.  Every time we got ice cream (which in our house was VERY frequently) my vote was for mint cookies and cream.  I thought that when I found Ben and Jerry’s Mint Oreo (now Mint Chocolate Cookie), I had been given the the world’s most perfect mint cookies and cream ice cream.  I am happy to say I have proven myself wrong, though their recipe was the basis for my own recipe, I changed it enough that I’m not afraid to call it my own.

"The BEST mint Oreo ice cream I've ever had." - Roni

Yield: about 1.5 quarts

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups half-and-half

3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
blue food coloring

2 tsp pure peppermint extract

1 cup chopped up Oreos* (as big or as little of chunks as your heart desires)

Directions:

1. Add cream and half-and-half to sauce pot and gently bring to a light boil.  Remove from heat.

2. Put egg yolks into a bowl and whisk until they become light in color.  Add in sugar about 1/4 cup at a time and whisk.  Add in just a drop or two of the blue food coloring to turn the yellow yolks mint green.

3.  Add the hot cream mixture to the eggs about 1/2 cup at a time and whisk each time until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added.

4. Add in remaining cream mixture to the eggs, and let sit for 3o minutes. (for a firmer ice cream, cook the whole mixture to about 170 degrees, so that it has a chance to thicken)

5. Add in peppermint extract and stir.

6. Cover and place in refrigerator for 4-8 hours.  At this time, place the chopped up Oreos into the freezer.

7. Add mix to ice cream maker according to instructions.

8. When there is about 2 minutes left, and the ice cream has thickened substantially, take the Oreos out of the freezer and add them to the ice cream.

9. Eat right away or pack it into air-tight containers.  The longer you store it, the less crisp and crunchy to cookies will be.

*blah, blah, blah, “Oreo” is a registered trademark of Nabisco, blah, blah, blah, legal stuff.