Homemade cookies and cream ice cream

This is the time of year that we break out the homemade ice cream maker. We’re really good at vanilla and blackberry, and last year I perfected my pumpkin pie recipe. But we were looking for something new this year. So, for the first time (for us), homemade cookies and cream ice cream!

Of course, featuring Oreo cookies.

This recipe was for our 6-quart ice cream freezer. I’ll have some conversions for smaller freezers below.

Start with six eggs.

Add 2-1/2 cups sugar (I used Splenda) and 1-1/2 cup brown sugar (I used 3/4 cup brown sugar-Splenda blend). Believe it or not, no one has been able to tell the difference yet between my Splenda ice cream and regular sugar ice cream!

Add 1-14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (I use the 2% kind, when I can find it) and 2 tablespoons of vanilla (optional, but highly recommended).

For a 6-quart freezer, I used 30 Oreo cookies, cut into chunks.

We had people over, and I knew the cookies wouldn’t make it unless they got put away. So they got temporarily boxed up.

Put the ice cream base in the freezer.

And add milk. We use 2% milk. Whole milk will give you a fuller, creamier texture (but will add in the calories, too!) Ours doesn’t have a fill-line, and we always fill it too full. You do need to leave head space, because the ice cream expands as it freezes. We used almost a full gallon of 2% milk, but probably should have only used a little more than a half gallon.

Put it all together, and add the ice and rock salt around the freezer. It’s important to layer the ice and salt – mixing it together will help the ice melt a little faster, which will help the ice cream freeze. It’s all about heat transfer – cooking is chemistry! (Or is that physics?)

Last summer we upgraded to this 6-quart White Mountain ice cream freezer (it also comes in a 4-quart size). And let me tell you, there’s no going back! I won’t lie, they’re not cheap, but they are fantastic! I think the paddle is what makes the difference – we used to have one with a plastic paddle. This one is metal and moves in a couple of different directions at the same time. That makes for better/faster mixing and freezing. And a shorter time to yum!

Add the Oreo cookies in the last 10 minutes so they will get mixed throughout the freezer. Our freezer takes around 25-30 minutes to freeze.

Would you believe, people got into the ice cream before I had a chance to take my picture? Here’s the finished product…

I have to say, I wasn’t really expecting the ice cream to turn that chocolatey color. But we threw in all the Oreo crumbs we could find, so I suppose it’s not surprising. I think the freezer broke some of my cookie chunks into even smaller pieces, so next time I would start with larger cookie chunks – I’m a fan of big chunks in my ice cream.

Regardless, fantastic for a first try at this flavor, and we will definitely do it again!

Printable recipe for a 6-quart freezer:

Printable recipe for a 4-quart freezer:

Happy freezing!