Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
Peppermint Stick Ice Cream: the happy ice cream flavor that says little kid birthday parties, Christmas and other special occasions.
Servings 2
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups crushed Starlite peppermint candies or candy canes 14 ounces
- 4 cups half and half
- 6 egg yolks beaten
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a double boiler (or over low heat), combine 2 1/2 cups of the crushed peppermint candy with the half-and-half.
- Heat over barely simmering water (or low heat) until scalded.
- Set aside and let steep for 15 minutes or 'til the candy is melted, stirring often.
- Whisk some of the hot half-and half mixture in with the beaten egg yolks.
- Return this egg yolk half-and-half mixture to the pan.
- Cook over simmering water (or low heat) stirring constantly, 5-10 minutes until the custard coats the spoon.
- (The mixture will be thicker now.)
- Immediately place the pan into a pan of ice cold water and stir the mixture, cooling to room temperature.
- Stir in the heavy whipping cream and vanilla.
- Cover and refrigerate 'til thoroughly chilled, 4-6 hours.
- Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.
- When almost completely frozen, mix in the remaining crushed peppermint candy.
- Serve soft, or freeze 6-8 hours until hard and scoopable.
Notes
My suggestion: give yourself plenty of time if you want hard ice-cream you can scoop. Twenty-four hours is optimum. You want the ice cream mixture very cold when you process it in the ice cream maker. If you want the hard, scoopable ice cream, freeze in the freezer an additional 6-8 hours after processing in the ice cream maker. I cook the ice cream mixture at night, refrigerate overnight, process in the ice cream maker the following morning and freeze all day to serve at night. It works best to give yourself twenty-four hours for the process. (It's so worth it!)