Sometimes You Just Need a Little Pick Me Up

I'm not writing this to promote that eating is the solution to all of our problems.  However, there are certain times when you just need a nice bowl of Cookies n' Cream Ice Cream to make all things right in the world.

I googled a bunch of recipes, but nobody seems to use vanilla beans instead of extract.  Most recipes I find are, to a certain extent, instant; in that you mix things together and then dump them immediately into the ice cream maker.

Believe me when I tell you folks that doing things the old fashioned way results in much more rich flavor.  So, I took some of the common denominators from the various recipes, such as ratio of Heavy Cream to Milk or Half & Half, and ratio of sugar to cream.  I submit to you, my version of Cookies n' Cream Ice Cream.

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Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half & half
1 vanilla bean
3/4 cup granulated raw sugar
12 Gluten Free "Oreo" Cookies**

**I use Glutino or Kinnickinnick, but really any brand you like will do

Directions:

Put your cookies into a large Ziploc bag.  Push as much of the air out that you can and then seal the bag.  Using a rolling pin, roll your cookies until they are crushed into small chunks.  Put this aside for later.   If you don't remove the bag, it might pop during the rolling process.

In a sauce pan over medium heat,  pour the heavy cream and half & half.  Split your vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the pan with the dairy items.  Do not discard your scraped bean shell, rather, throw that in the cream mix as well.  When the cream mixture is warm, add the sugar.  Stir lightly to distribute the vanilla seeds throughout the mixture and to dissolve the sugar.  Continue stirring until this mixture is at a low simmer.

Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool slightly.  Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a large heatproof bowl.  If you have an automatically chilling ice cream machine you simply need to let the mixture chill in an ice bath for about 10 minutes and then pop it in the machine. 

However, if you're like me and your ice cream maker is not self-chilling, you will need to place this mixture into the refrigerator to cool for a minimum of 4 hours.  I usually leave it overnight because the longer you leave it, the longer the flavors blend together.  This also allows time for my ice cream maker bowl to chill as well.   

When it is fully chilled, pour the mixture into the ice cream maker.  Most ice cream makers provide a result similar to soft serve.  When the ice cream is done mixing (or when your machine prompts you to add in your fillings), you will need to add the cookie chunks.  Those with an ice cream machine, may just be able to add it directly to the machine.  Since I use an attachment on my stand mixer and there is limited space for adding, I remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to fold in the crushed cookie chunks.  Continue folding or mixing, until the cookies are distributed evenly throughout.   

I then transfer the mixture to a tupperware container and throw it in the freezer.  That is when it gets the ice cream consistency we are used to seeing.  Below is the ice cream in my tupperware, mixed and ready to be frozen.