Homemade Oatmeal Cookie Chunk Ice Cream

I've been on an ice cream binge recently. It is National Ice Cream Month, after all. I have seven more days before I can no longer justify my consumption based on the need to celebrate such a worthy occasion. The other day, my mom asked if I was planning on making ice cream during our family beach trip at the beginning of August. Since my ice cream maker is just an attachment to my stand mixer, I informed her that sadly lugging all of it down to South Carolina was not an option.

That was 45 minutes before the ice cream gods presented me with a more portable Cuisinart ice cream/sorbet maker for only $21 on Gilt. How could I not? So, now I own two ice cream makers, which means this binge isn't going to die down any time soon.

I won’t run through my perceived benefits of having two ice cream makers (trust me, I've thought of plenty) because I realize for any normal person one should do it. That said, if you don’t even have one, find a deal like that and buy it. We all waste $21 on things a lot less useful than an ice cream maker....and I also feel bad for posting so many recipes that are useless to anyone who doesn’t have one.

This recipe, in particular, is one you need in your life. My favorite flavor of all time is Ben & Jerry’s Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, which sadly they discontinued a few years back. I don't understand why on earth they did this because it was the best flavor ever, but no one consults with me on these decisions. Alas, I took matters into my own hands, and I now have this incredible mock version. The base is a creamy, flavorful cinnamon that’s filled with chocolate chips and chunks of the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies I posted last week. It will leave you speechless. It will also make you question why you’ve never considered cinnamon ice cream one of your favorite flavors.

The cookies don’t harden inside the ice cream. They taste more like little chunks of cookie dough. The cinnamon base on its own was already a knockout, so with the addition of these cookies (which are my new favorites) and chocolate chips it’s a whole new level of good. If you want to use a different oatmeal cookie recipe you're more than welcome to, but no raisins!!

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Base recipe adapted from Susi's Kochen

Ingredients:

Base
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
1/3 cup (70 g) packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add-ins
3 cups Best Ever Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, crumbled into medium and small sized chunks*
1/2 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Directions
To make the ice cream, warm the milk, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk the cream, brown sugar, and cinnamon together into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Mix in the vanilla and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (3+ hours or overnight). Once chilled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Three minutes before mixture is finished, add in chocolate chips and 2 cups of the cookie pieces.

Spread finished ice cream into a freezer safe container, tossing in pieces from the remaining 1 cup of cookie crumbs as you go. Cover, and place in the freezer until firm.

*Think about it like you would cookie dough pieces in cookie dough ice cream. It's always disappointing when you eat it and you don't have any cookie dough in your spoonful. Leave enough quarter-sized chunks that you will get bites of cookie, but don't have them so big that a spoonful would have only cookie.