Gingerbread Ice Cream

For my birthday, my wife got me the best gift of all…an ice cream maker! Now I can use this gift that keeps on giving to make lots of fun ice cream creations. Since my birthday was right around Thanksgiving and the holidays, I decided to start with a holiday-themed ice cream flavor of Gingerbread. The ice cream is a ginger holiday spice base, with crushed gingerbread cookies sprinkled throughout. It’s a great ice cream to have on its own, or with your favorite holiday dessert. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

• 1 cup sugar

• 5 egg yolks

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 3.5 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice)

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 1 package gingerbread cookies

Equipment:

• 1 ice cream maker (duh) – One note, in case you’re new to ice cream making, read the full instructions of the ice cream maker before using it. If you have a bowl insert that needs to be frozen, be sure to freeze the bowl at least 24 hours in advance of ice cream making!

• 1 sauce pan for heating the milk

• 1 bowl for mixing eggs, sugar, etc.

• 1 small bowl to make the spice mix

• 1 big bowl to add the whole milk to the whipping cream at the end

• 1 hand whisk (preferably a thin whisk)

• 1 wooden spoon to stir the custard

• 1 sieve/strainer

• Measuring cups, etc.

For this recipe, I purchased a package of Graceful Cookies’ Ginger Snap Molasses cookies. They were brittle but not so fragile as to lose their definition during the ice cream churning process.

Once you have your ingredients assembled, it’s time to make your ice cream!

Instructions:

The Cream:

1. Make the mixed spice mix from ½ tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice, and 1 ½ tsp of ginger.

2. Whisk egg yolks with sugar until just combined

3. Heat whole milk on a stove. You want the milk to be hot, but not boiling. It will start to bubble a tiny bit on the sides and will slightly thicken. If you have a thermometer, the milk should be around 50 °C.

4. Add half of the mixed spices to the milk and the other half to the yolk/sugar mix. Continue heating the milk until the spices are well combined. They won’t dissolve completely, but that’s okay.

5. Gradually add the hot milk to the egg yolks and sugar, whisking during the addition.

6. Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan and continue heating (do not boil) until the custard mixture has thickened slightly and is starting to stick to the spoon (70-80 °C)

7. While the custard is heating, pour the whipping cream into a large bowl and add vanilla to the whipping cream. Place the sieve on top of the bowl with the whipping cream. You’re going to pour the custard through the sieve to remove any solid bits

8. Once you’re satisfied with your custard, pour it through the sieve into the whipping cream and mix them well, but don’t over mix (you don’t want to make whipped cream by mistake!)

9. Cover with cellophane and chill for at least 3 hours in the fridge, or overnight

The Churning:

1. Assemble your ice cream maker, but don’t take the frozen bowl out yet. You want to minimize the amount of time the frozen bowl is exposed to room temperature

2. Take the cookies and break them up into big chunks (¼ pieces to ½ pieces depending on the size of the cookie and your personal preference)

3. Take the ice cream mixture out of the refrigerator, and take the bowl out of the freezer.

4. Pour the ice cream mix into your frozen bowl and make the ice cream base according to the ice cream maker instructions.

5. My ice cream maker recommends a 20-minute churn, so I let my base churn for about 15 minutes before I gradually added in the cookies. Be sure to keep an eye on the ice cream and use a spoon or whisk to break up any pieces that get stuck and aren’t being actively churned.

6. Churn an additional 3-5 minutes after the cookies are added to make sure they’re well combined.

7. Quickly scoop out the ice cream and put in the freezer immediately before it can melt.

8. Freeze for at least an additional 2 hours and enjoy!

How did this recipe turn out for you? Leave a comment below and let me know!