This chocolate milk and cookies ice cream is yet another brilliant concoction from Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn. It uses a chocolate paste for the custard and crushed cookie “powder” and chunks for the add-ins!
Not too long ago, I came across an article that listed each state’s favorite ice cream. The study was done by analyzing web searches for ice cream flavors and breaking those down by state. My state’s most-searched ice cream flavor was cookies and cream.
While I think it’s a bit of stretch to say that a state’s most-searched ice cream flavor is also their favorite, I’ll go with it (for now). Being the nerd that I am, I’d like to see if there are data points that link back to the total number of scoops by flavor plus the flavors of pre-packaged ice creams that are sold. Yup, nerd here.
Anyway, back to the cookies and cream ice cream. I’ve made this several times before but have never tried it with a chocolate base. Not surprisingly, I went to my newest cookbook obsession (Ample Hills Creamery) to see how they made their version.
This chocolate milk and cookies ice cream starts off with their sweet vanilla base. Then we add a chocolate paste to the custard so it’s thick, rich and chocolate-y. The ice cream uses both crushed cookie “powder” and crushed cookie chunks for the add-ins.
I’ve gotta admit that the chocolate custard base was a good call. It made the ice cream more complex in flavor, and having both the cookie powder and chunks were a great touch too. In fact, I loved this so much that I may be using this rich chocolate ice cream base for all my ice creams going forward!
My family FREAKED OUT (in a good way) about how awesome this ice cream was. So far, I’ve made 6 recipes from Ample Hills, and my husband declared this one as his favorite. Addie said that this was her second favorite (behind the ooey gooey butter cake ice cream). I’ve got them excited about the cookbook and it sounds like the next recipe they want me to tackle will also use the same chocolate ice cream base. Stay tuned!
Chocolate milk and cookies ice cream
Ingredients
Chocolate paste
- ¼ cup (50 grams) organic cane sugar
- ⅓ cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ounces (55 grams) semisweet chocolate chopped
Ice cream base
- ¾ cup organic cane sugar
- ½ cup skim milk powder
- 1 and ⅔ cup whole milk
- 1 and ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 12-ounce package sandwich cookies, such as Oreos divided
Instructions
Crush the cookies
- Freeze 6 of the sandwich cookies for about an hour. Crush them either with a rolling pin or in the food processor. Set aside. Break the remaining cookies into small chunks and set aside.
Make the chocolate paste
- In a small saucepan, boil ⅓ cup of water. Once the water comes to a boil, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the sugar and cocoa powder. Mix well and then add in the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth and set aside.
Make the ice cream base
- Get a large bowl and fill it with ice. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, mix together the sugar, milk powder, and milk. Whisk until the milk powder dissolves. Then add the cream and mix well.
- Place the egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside.
- Put a fine mesh sieve on top of a large bowl and set aside.
- Turn the stove to medium and clip a candy thermometer to the side. Stir the mixture until it reaches 110 degrees F (45 degrees C).
- Take the saucepan off the stove (but do not turn it off). Pour about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the small bowl with the egg yolks. Keep whisking so the eggs don't scramble. Then pour the egg yolks back into the sauce pan and keep stirring.
- Keep heating the mixture until it reaches 165 degrees F (75 degrees C). This will take about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate paste until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the fine mesh sieve. Remove the sieve and stir the vanilla extract into the custard mixture. Mix well.
- Allow the ice cream mixture to cool in the ice bath before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely, at least another 1-2 hours.
- Once the ice cream mixture has completely cooled, add the crushed cookie bits to the ice cream custard and churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions.
- After the ice cream is churned, fold in the reserved cookie chunks and transfer to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for about 8-12 hours before serving.
I’ve had this and the other Ample Hills flavor you mention. We have a relative who sends us Ample Hills ice cream (dry ice and all) as a present. Delicious, and so rich that I gain weight just looking at it. Now that I look at the ingredients I see why. Mostly quality ingredients though.
Author
I need to make friends with your relative!! What an amazing present!!