I love having an ice cream maker. Each time I try a new recipe, I am amazed at how easy it is to combine basic ingredients to create an out-of-this-world frozen confection. When I starting planning my husband’s birthday celebration, I knew I wanted to make my own ice cream. What kind of ice cream should be served with a cookies and cream cake? Why cookies and cream ice cream, of course!

For this recipe, I turned to Stefany at Proceed with Caution. Her adapted vanilla base is creamy and smooth, which belies the fact that it contains less fat than most homemade ice creams. The recipe is perfect as-is, but I added more rough-chopped Oreos because I like a lot of mix-ins in my ice cream. I also mixed the base in a slightly different manner, opting to heat it thoroughly before chilling. I’ve included my revised instructions below, but you can see the original here.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Recipe from Proceed With Caution, originally adapted from Doc Wilson

8 oz skim milk
8 oz heavy cream
8 oz fat free half and half
1/4 cup Egg Beaters
6 tbsp sugar
7 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk (1/2 can)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely ground Oreos
3/4 cup roughly chopped Oreos

1. Pour half and half into small saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Remove from heat.
2. In a separate bowl, use a whisk or electric mixer to beat Egg Beaters, sweetened condensed milk and sugar together. Beat in 1/2 cup of hot half and half and then stir this mixture into the saucepan with the remaining half and half.
3. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue until the mixture reached 170-180 degrees or is slightly thickened. Do not bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Pour the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the cream, milk, vanilla extract and finely ground Oreos.
5. Chill the mixture for several hours (overnight is even better). You can speed up the process by placing the bowl containing the mixture in a large bowl filled with ice and water.
6. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer?s directions Add the roughly chopped Oreos during the last five minutes.