If you follow us on Facebook, you saw my post earlier this week about this great article on Brooklyn’s Ample Farms Ice Cream. What an inspiring story for anyone thinking of starting a small business, that if you work hard and have a good product, success is possible. Of course, the article also talks all about the amazing flavors of ice cream that they sell and with my mouth watering, I decided that it was time to break out the ice cream maker. At first I was going to make my favorite salted caramel ice cream and mix in some animal crackers but then I saw this post on Smitten Kitchen about homemade ice cream sandwiches and I knew I had to give it a whirl.
But with a twist — I decided to make a batch of Vanilla Custard Ice Cream and mix in the homemade ice cream sandwich cookies. At its core, this is really a Cookies n Cream ice cream but the cookies are better and what a treat, this is delicious. And I’m now convinced that I should buy a cart and open an ice cream stand and take on Ben n Jerry’s!
Here’s the recipe:
Cookies
+ 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
+ 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra dark or Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder
+ 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
+ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
+ 3/8 teaspoons table salt
+ 1 large egg yolk
+ 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Ice Cream
+ 2 vanilla beans
+ 3 cups heavy cream
+ 1 cup whole milk
+ 1 1/2 cups sugar
+ 3 large egg
Special Equipment
+ Ice Cream Maker
+ Candy Thermometer that goes to at least 170°F.
The Steps
1). Make the cookies
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a sheet pan with silpat or parchment and set aside. Then sift the flour and cocoa together in a bowl and set aside. In your mixer, cream the butter, sugar and salt until fluffy (beat them on medium high for 2-3 minutes). Add the yolks and vanilla and mix until combined. Then add the flour mixture in three parts mix until combined each time and scrap down the sides. When the dough is mixed, remove and form into a disc. Chill for up to 10-30 minutes until it is firm enough to roll out. Remove from fridge and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll out and cut into rectangles. Try to make them even but they don’t need to be perfect as they will be crumbled once cooked. Place on the baking sheet and cook for 16-18 minutes.
2). Make the ice cream
Start with a knife and halve the vanilla beans lengthwise. Scrape the seeds into a heavy saucepan and add the pods. Then pour in the cream, milk and sugar. Heat over medium heat until it has just come to a boil, stirring frequently and then remove from heat. Make sure that the milk mixture is around 170ºF. Stir to cool until it is 170, you don’t want it hotter than that or you will cook the eggs.
In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs and then pour the hot cream mixture into the eggs in a slow steady stream while whisking.
Then transfer back to the sauce pan and heat over low heat until the mixture is once again at 170ºF.
Then place a strainer or sieve over a clean bowl and pour the mixture through it. Cover the custard with wax paper (press the paper to the surface of the custard) and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. Once it is completely cooled, place into your ice cream maker and turn it on.
3). Mix to combine
Crumble the ice cream sandwich cookies into bite size pieces. Then about 20 minutes into the ice cream maker chilling process, once the ice cream has the consistency of soft serve ice cream, stir in the crumbled cookies. Once they are blended, stop the machine, transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze overnight. This can be made up a week in advance. Serve it up with additional crumbles if desired.
Imagine if you threw an ice cream sandwich in a blender, this is it. Now do I have you dreaming of my ice cream stand?
Xo,
Katie
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