Peppermint Stick Ice Cream

Every Christmas we end up with left over candy canes. The children pick them up from school and from visits to Santa Claus, but they rarely eat many of them. So, we thought that it would be a good idea to crush them and put them into ice cream; the children almost never pass up ice cream. And, this has come somewhat of a traditional food for our family at Christmas time.

Here is the recipe that I use for peppermint ice cream, I have not heard any complaints about it from the children, so I assume that it must be pretty good.

Yields: 1 1/2 quarts

2 cups 2% milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sucralose (Splenda)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
3/4 cup crushed candy canes

Place all of the ingredients, except the candy canes, into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until the sugar is well incorporated.

Process with your ice cream maker following the manufacturer's recommendations. Once the mixture is thick and almost ready, add the crushed candy canes and process until incorporated.

For my ice cream maker it takes about 22 minutes to become thick, and then another 5 minutes to incorporate the peppermint sticks. The ice cream usually turns to a nice pink color once the candy canes are incorporated.