Cake Batter Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

Have you tried the Birthday Cake Oreos? What did you think? Like or dislike? For me it they were good, but not my favorite... I thought that the golden ones were better than the chocolate ones, but that the flavor was a bit overwhelming for just cookies and milk. With more than 3/4 of a pack left I decided I needed to make ice cream. I figured that the cookies would help flavor the ice cream and that they would taste a little more subtle. I used one of my favorite vanilla ice cream bases and added a few extra extracts to give it a slight cake batter taste (I'm not a fan of putting cake mix into ice cream). I chopped up a bunch of the Golden Birthday Cake Oreos and tossed them in along with a scoop of sprinkles. Voilà! Cake Batter Cookies & Cream was born! Once I churned the ice cream I allowed it to sit overnight so that the flavors would meld together a little more. Stephen and I had a scoop after lunch the following day and absolutely loved it! The creaminess of the vanilla base really worked well with the sweet buttery flavor of the Oreos... it was a match made in heaven. So if you've got some extra Oreos laying around, I highly suggest making some ice cream- it's definitely worth it!

Cake Batter Cookies & Cream Ice Cream
Ingredients
¾ c. sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
5 egg yolks
¹⁄₈ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. imitation butter extract
¹⁄₈ tsp. almond extract
12-16 Golden Birthday Cake Oreos*
¼ c. rainbow sprinkles, jimmies

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, warm the milk, salt, sugar and cream until it reaches 100 degrees.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly (go very slow at first so you don't scramble your yolks). After combined, scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium heat. Using a heatproof spatula, scrape the bottom as you stir, until the mixture coats the bottom of the spatula and/or reaches 170 degrees.
3. Pour the heated mixture through a mesh sieve set over a medium size mixing bowl (this will help remove any eggy bits). Add the extracts and whisk to combine.
4. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool, stirring with a rubber spatula for about 8-10 minutes. The mixture should be slightly cool to the touch. Cover the bowl with base in it and refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled throughout.
5. Freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. I use the KitchenAid bowl attachment. It usually takes me about minutes to get the consistency that I want, which is never solid, but more like hard frozen yogurt. Be careful not to overchurn or you might curdle your mixture! When finished churning, stir in cookies and sprinkles with spatula.
6. Place in a air-tight freezer safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

*NOTE: if you can't find Golden Birthday Cake Oreos you can use regular golden Oreos and increase the imitation butter extract to ½ tsp. and the almond extract to ¼ tsp.

Life Made Simple Original Recipe | Makes 6-8 servings