Peppermint Candy Ice Cream

Cool and creamy, you'll enjoy this homemade pepperminty pink ice cream with bits of candy cane. This recipe makes 2 quarts.

Author: Terri @ that's some good cookin'

Ingredients

1 cup crushed peppermint candies See step 1 in the Instructions.
2 cups heavy cream
1 cups whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 egg yolks
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 drops red food coloring optional

Instructions

To crush the peppermint candies: Place the candy in a sturdy food grade plastic bag. Break the candy by firmly tapping it with a rolling pin. The candy breaks fairly easily, so don't hit it too hard or else the candy will be powdered instead of in smallish bits. Set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, heat the cream, milk, sugar, and salt stirring just until steam starts to rise. Do not boil.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Temper the egg yolks by slowly pouring about 2 cups of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Pour the tempered egg yolk/cream mixture back into the saucepan while stirring.
Over medium heat, continue to stir the mixture until it is thickened and coats the back of a metal spoon. Slide your finger across the back of the coated spoon. If a definitive line remains, then the custard is done. If not, continue to cook and stir the mixture, testing periodically with the spoon until the custard has developed.
Place the pot with the custard into an ice bath and stir until the mixture has cooled. (I set the pot in a large bowl about a quarter filled with ice. Use whatever you have available, even the kitchen sink with some ice in will do the trick.)
After the custard has cooled, stir in the peppermint and vanilla extracts, and the red food coloring. Cover and put in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight until completely chilled.
Process according to manufacturer's instructions in an ice cream freezer. Remove dasher from ice cream and while the ice cream is still soft, stir in the peppermint candies. (See notes) Cover the ice cream and place in a freezer for several hours or over night until firm. This is called ripening the ice cream.

Notes

Sometimes the candy pieces have a tendency to settle to the bottom of the ice cream. Part way through the ripening process, when the ice cream is more firm, stir it to redistribute the candy pieces.