Homemade Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Sweet cream ice cream with sandwich cookies mixed in makes for the best homemade cookies and cream ice cream.

white bowl with 5 scoops of cookies and cream ice cream on dark wooden surface

This is a recipe for real homemade ice cream. We are using eggs, heating up a true ice cream custard from scratch, and then chilling and churning it. There are many short cuts in the world of ice cream, but there’s no substitute for the real thing.

That doesn’t mean that this recipe is hard or time consuming, however. Most of the time simply involves letting things chill in the fridge or freezer. There is a little bit of stovetop tending, but nothing too extreme. And the results…sweet, creamy, freshly churned ice cream with old fashioned flavor and loaded with big pieces of sandwich cookies…are definitely worth it.

Ingredients You’ll Need

cream, milk, sandwich cookies, sugar, vanilla, and egg  yolks in bowls on concrete surface
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed (about 11 cookies)

Recommended tools: a simple ice cream maker (with an insert that goes in the freezer) is the most affordable style, and a reusable strainer is very handy for this and many other kitchen adventures.

???? Frugal Tip

Heavy cream can be found for the best price at Costco. The price really can’t be beat! And don’t be afraid of generic sandwich cookies: many of them are very good!

Let’s make some ice cream

Preparing the custard

grid of 4 images: heating milk and sugar, beating eggs and sugar, tempering eggs, stirring custard for ice cream

First we begin by heating up the milk and the cream on the stove. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and heat on medium low heat until the mixture is steaming and very warm, about 175 degrees. This takes about 5 minutes.

While the milk and cream are heating, mix the egg yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Use an electric hand mixer and beat until the eggs have lightened in color.

Now we have to combine these two things, but you can’t simply pour the eggs into the hot milk or it will cook the eggs and you’ll have bits of scrambled egg in your ice cream. Not good. So we need to mix them slowly.

Using a measuring cup, slowly scoop about 1/4 of the hot milk into the egg and sugar mixture. Stir it in, then repeat this step until you’ve added about half of the milk mixture.

Heating and straining

grid of 4 images: custard coating back of spoon, vanilla poured into custard, straining, things to chill in freezer

The eggs should be well tempered and you can now combine everything back into the saucepan. It goes back on the stove and is heated to 185. It will be slightly thickened and should coat the back of a spoon.

Once the temperature is reached, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and the pinch of salt. Place the ice cream custard into strainer, or use cheesecloth over a bowl. Once it’s strained, place into the fridge until very cold. It’s best to let it chill overnight.

At the same time, place the insert for your ice cream maker into the freezer and allow it to chill.

Churning and adding the cookies

grid of 4 images: putting custard into ice cream maker, churning into ice cream, adding crushed sandwich cookies, freezing in loaf pan

Don’t worry; we’re almost done! The rest of this is easy and fun!

Set up your ice cream maker and pour your cold custard right in. Start churning and keep an eye on it until it becomes the consistency of soft serve. Then add in your crushed cookies, about one third of them at a time, and let them mix in. A little extra wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Once they are mixed in, immediately transfer the cookies and cream ice cream into a container for freezing (a loaf pan for baking works very well), cover tightly, and place back in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

And you are finally done! Scoop into bowls or cones or whatever your heart desires.

Looking for even more homemade ice cream?

Print the recipe here

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Enjoy freshly churned ice cream loaded with pieces of chocolate sandwich cookies for the best cookies and cream ice cream ever!
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
chilling 1 day
Total Time 1 day 45 minutes
Serving Size 8

Ingredients 

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup chocolate sandwich cookies crushed (about 11 cookies)

Instructions 

  • Add the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup of the sugar to a large saucepan. Over medium heat, warm the mixture until it is very warm (175 degrees), about 5 minutes.
  • While the mixture is heating, combine the egg yolks with the remaining cup of sugar. Beat until it turns lighter yellow in color. Remove the milk mixture from the heat, and half a cup at a time, add roughly half of it to the egg mixture. Mix after each addition. This is to temper the eggs and prevent them from cooking in the hot custard. Once you have blended half of the milk into the eggs, pour the entire milk- egg mixture back into the saucepan. Place it all back on the heat and heat over medium and cook. Stir constantly and cook until the mixture is 185 degrees, or has thickened enough the coat the back of a spoon. Do not boil.
  • Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Strain the mixture using a stainer or cheesecloth set over a large bowl. Allow to cool at room temperature, then cover and place in fridge until very cold- at least 6 hours, up to overnight.
  • Remove custard from fridge and set up ice cream maker, according to manufacturer’s instructions. Churn until it is the consistency of soft serve ice cream, then add the crushed sandwich cookies 1/3 of a cup at a time.
  • Transfer to container, such as a loaf pan and tightly cover with plastic wrap. Refreeze 2-4 hours until hardened. Scoop and serve. Will last up to week in the freezer

Notes

Ice cream making can’t be rushed! Make sure everything is thouroughly chilled before moving on the next step,
Calories: 379kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 163mg | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 147mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 860IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 97mg | Iron: 2mg

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

picture of smiling female

By Katie Shaw

Katie lives in Virginia with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens. She loves creating simple tutorials for sourdough, bread, and soap. Her recipes, articles, and YouTube videos reach millions of people per year.

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