Pink Peppermint Ice Cream

I found out recently that my mom AND my mother in law share a love of peppermint ice cream.  I don't really know why it's taken me so long to figure out that they had this in common.  (Not sure whether you could call it a direct genetic link but it's worth noting that my daughter and I also love peppermint ice cream.)  Now that I know that we all share this peppermint ice cream love I just HAD to make a batch - to bond us.  Can you think of a better reason to make peppermint ice cream?

I've never actually made homemade peppermint ice cream so I turned to the internet for inspiration.  (and a recipe)  I found a recipe for pink peppermint ice cream on amandascookin.com that looked absolutely scrumptious. Of course, I had to put my own little twist on the original recipe and make it my own.  I divided my ice cream into thirds and added a different form of peppermint to each batch.

















I put crushed candy canes in one batch,


















soft peppermint sticks crushed up in another,

and Andes peppermint crunch in the last batch.

Peppermint Ice Cream
14 ounce can condensed milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint
4 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
pink food coloring
1 cup crushed peppermint candies of your choice

Combine all ingredients except peppermint candies.

Pour into an ice cream freezer and process until firm. 

Stir in peppermint candies.

This was the ice cream with the crushed candy canes,  

 the soft peppermint sticks,

 and the Andes peppermint crunch.

What a great experiment.  Could four different women from the same family who share a love of peppermint ice cream, like the same kind of peppermint added to their ice cream?  The truth is that we didn't dislike any one of the peppermint ice creams.  They were all good and I would recommend that you try all of them.  See for yourself which version of peppermint ice cream you like the best.

Ciao!