thin mint ice cream

I wanted to give you guys a little update on my birthday present from Austin!  He gave me the fabulous ice cream maker for my KitchenAid mixer, and I have definitely been getting some use out of it :)  Here's a little sample of something I scooped up recently...

Thin Mint Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups half and half

8 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups crushed Thin Mints

Directions:

1) In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the half and half until it is really really hot but not boiling.  Stir that sucker pretty often!

2) Once the half and half is hot hot hot, remove it from the heat and set it aside.  

3) In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whip together the egg yolks and sugar for about 30 seconds on speed "2".  The eggs and sugar should be well blended and slightly thickened.

4) Keep the mixer on speed "2", and gradually pour in the half and half.  Mix that stuff up until it's blended!

5) Return the half and half mixture to the saucepan, and heat it over medium heat until little bubbles start to form around the edges and you can see a tiny bit o' steam.  Don't let it boil, though, and make sure you stir it constantly!!

6) Return the mixture to a big bowl, and add in the vanilla and salt.  Stir that up!

7) Cover the bowl, and stick that thang in the fridge for at least 8 hours.  I just put mine in there overnight.

"Vanilla ice cream, make friends will Julio!"

Fast forward at least 8 hours...

8) Crunch up your cookies!  I like to put about 6-8 cookies in a baggie, wrap that in a dish towel, and smack it with a rolling pin.  I didn't want to totally pulverize the thin mints because we like big chunks in our ice cream, but you can crunch them up as much or as little as you like.

9) Follow the instructions to assemble your ice cream maker, and pour in the good stuff!  Mix it up for about 20 minutes on the "stir" speed, adding in the crushed cookies the last 1-2 minutes.

10) Scoop your completed ice cream into an air tight container and stick it in the freezer.

11) Once your ice cream has been in the freezer for a little bit, serve it up!

I'm linking up with Ashley and Jessica for Taste of Tuesday today!  Have a good one, everybody!