Mint Oreo Ice Cream
I was away for the week. My parents rented a beautiful house on a lake in the Pocono mountains. My son Cameron couldn’t believe we were going to Pennsylvania. I still don’t know why this mystified him. The vacation was great. The kids swam and ran around with their cousins, while we adults floated on rafts with martinis in hand. It was nice. I even brought up my new ice cream maker in the hopes of making many delicious flavors. Turns out I only made one batch. It was Cuisinart’s recipe for mint Oreo ice cream and it was sublime–creamy, minty-sweet, and with just enough Oreo cookie crumbles in every bite. Cuisinart recommends using fresh mint, however, I went the easier route and used mint extract instead. Don’t judge. I had martinis to drink.
Okay, so first you heat up the milk, cream, half of the sugar, salt, vanilla extract and mint extract. Bring to just about a boil.
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining sugar. Pour in a little of the hot milk mixture and mix. This is called tempering.
Pour the egg yolk mixture in with the remaining hot milk mixture and heat until it coats the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees F). Remove from heat, then allow mixture to come to room temperature before refrigerating it for at least 2 hours, or as long as overnight.
Once chilled, pour the base (milk mixture) into the ice cream maker and churn for about 20 minutes. While the ice cream maker is doing its thing, find a child in your house and tell them to smash up some Oreo cookies. In this case, I used my two nephews, Nic and Sam.
Pour in the cookie crumbles during the last 5 minutes of churning. Once finished, the ice cream will appear very soft and runny. If that is your preference of consistency then by all means dig in! If not, scoop ice cream into an air tight container and freeze overnight.
While the ice cream firms up in the freezer, put on your Batman mask and life vest and walk around with an ore.
Ice cream’s ready!
- 2 cups Whole Milk
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1 cup (200 g) Granulated Sugar, divided
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp. Mint Extract
- 5 Large Egg Yolks
- 1 cup (about 8 cookies) Oreo Cookies, crushed
- In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together the milk, cream, half of the sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and mint extract. Bring the mixture almost to a boil.
- While the milk mixture is heating up, whisk together the egg yolks, and remaining sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk until the yolk mixture is paler and a bit thicker.
- Once the milk mixture has almost reached the boiling point, remove from heat, and then whisk about 1/3 cup of the heated milk into the egg yolk mixture. Mix in an additional 1/3 cup of the milk mixture then pour the entire egg yolk/milk mixture back into the saucepan.
- Over low heat, stir the egg yolk/milk mixture constantly. It is ready once it coats the back of a wooden spoon (about 170 degrees F). Make sure this mixture does not come to a boil or the yolks will overcook.
- Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Set aside to come to room temperature.
- When ready, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.
- Once properly chilled, pour this mint cream base into your ice cream maker. Churn according your machine's instructions. When it is almost fully churned, pour in the crushed cookies. Let mix until fully combined.
- The ice cream will be soft and creamy. If you desire a firmer consistency then scoop the ice cream in an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours.
- Saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Ice cream maker
- Whisk
- Large bowl
- Medium bowl
- Candy thermometer (optional)
- Fine-mesh sieve
