Oreo Cookie Ice Cream

I *LOVE* Oreo Cookies. And if you’ve hung around here long enough, you’d know just how much I love them. I’ve made cupcakes, Oreo pie with Philly cream cheese and brownies with Oreo cookies. It has now been quite a while since I got my Oreo fix; making a wonderfully rich and creamy Oreo ice cream seemed like the perfectly indulgent idea in this tropical heat.

I referred to Dorie’s recipe from her book Baking From My Home to Yours and followed the steps diligently after I had overlooked an important point the first time – instead of gently heating the custard, I turned up the heat and messy scrambled eggs soon followed. The second time around, equipped with an instant-read thermometer, I made sure to keep my eyes on it all the time. The second it reached 170F/76C, I took it off the heat. Another way of determining the doneness of the custard is to see that it coats the spoon. You don’t really need a thermometer for it, but it feels really cool do things in a scientific way – feels like Chemistry lab all over. Well, much better actually

This ice cream turned out beautifully; rich, dense and creamy. It is absolutely lovely on its own and even better with the Oreo cookie bits thrown it. Try it, you will love it!

1. In a heavy bottom saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a boil
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or alternatively in a medium bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar together until very well blended and slightly thick.
3. While the mixer is on, pour in half a cup on the milk-cream mixture so as to raise the temperature of the eggs. Then add another half a cup. Blend well. Do not stop stirring if you’re doing it manually.
4. Now mix the custard mixture with the milk and cream in the saucepan. Stir well making sure all the sugar has dissolved (it’s best to do this before you turn on the heat source).
5. Cook this ice cream mixture on a low heat, stirring constantly till the custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon.
6. It should reach at least 170F/76C, and not exceed 180F/82C on an instant read thermometer.
7. Just as it reaches this temperature, remove it from the heat source and strain it into another clean bowl.
8. Stir in the vanilla extract.
9. Refrigerate the custard before churning into cream.
10. Once cool (a couple of hours or overnight) then churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
11. During the last 5 minutes, when the mixture looks thick, throw in crushed bits of Oreo cookies.
12. Transfer into a container, top with more Oreo cookie bits and freeze for at least 2 hours for the ice cream to be firm enough to scoop. Serve!