Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream with Chocolate Cocoa Nibs

My co-worker, Celsa, is a creative genius. She always comes up with the best gifts to give during the holidays. I get excited every year to see what she is giving out. Well, this year I got in on the action early. She asked for my help, yahoo!

Celsa designed the most amazing ice cream containers, the only problem? She doesn't make ice cream! She knew we had the Cuisinart dream machine so she asked for our assistance. She came over last week and we churned up three batches of peppermint ice cream. We added in peppermint candy and cocoa nibs.

The ice cream was really good, but the container makes it even better. I still can't believe she designed and created all of these little containers. They are too cute!

On a side note, we are headed to Illinois tonight. That is where I grew up, so we are going home for the holidays! We are so excited!! We will be there for 10 days! We will do our best to blog while we are away. My family loves to be in the kitchen so I am sure we will have new recipes to share! And don't worry I have a few posts already scheduled, so come back and visit us soon:)

Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream with Cocoa Nibs

Adapted from Simply Recipes

2 ½ cups heavy cream 1 ½ cups whole milk 8 large egg yolks ¾ cup sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons peppermint extract ½ cup crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candy ½ cup chocolate covered cocoa nibs

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Make sure the sugar and salt completely dissolve. Pour the cream into a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and set a medium-mesh sieve on top.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk 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 wooden or heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 5-7 minutes.

Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Then stir until cool over the ice bath. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. One the mixture is thoroughly chilled, add peppermint extract, a ¼ teaspoon at a time, tasting the mixture after each addition, until you reach the desired level of peppermintiness. Once chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Once the ice cream has been formed in the ice cream maker, it will be fairly soft. Fold in the crushed peppermint candy and cocoa nibs. Put in an airtight plastic container and place in the freezer for several hours.

Makes 1 ½ quarts.