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Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream

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This Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream is creamy and rich with peppermint from leftover Candy Canes!

Did you know that today is National Candy Cane day?

Are you on a sugar high from all the Christmas candy canes yet?  🙂

Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream - inspirationkitchen.comI don’t know about you, but with the holidays, I’m up to my ears in candy canes!

My house is like a warehouse of swirling barber poles!  🙂  I’m dizzy just thinking about it!

Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream - inspirationkitchen.comI had  to come up with a way to use all of them.  I rarely  eat candy by itself, so my eyes were really buzzing at all the red and white stripes twirling around here!

I may say no to candy, but ice cream?  That’s an entirely different story.  I could eat ice cream all.day.long.

How about you?  Are you an ice cream addict?

Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream - inspirationkitchen.comThose candy canes had to get to work – and it was about time to put them to good use!

Time for a little food processor action.  Take that candy canes!

Peppermint Ice Cream | Inspiration KitchenThis ice cream (the way I made it) is definitely soft-serve.  I’ve provided a link to the original recipe below if you’d rather have regular ice cream that is not soft-serve.  We like both, so this Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream was perfect for us!

The result of the soft-serve was that I modified the recipe to use what I had on hand, and you can too.  No sense wasting extra money on ingredients when you can substitute and still get the same great flavor, right?

Peppermint Ice Cream | Inspiration KitchenTo make this ice cream even more fun for your kids, sift the ground candy canes through a fine sifter into a separate bowl.  Save the larger ‘chips’ or pieces for the ice cream and separate the candy dust.  Then, just sprinkle some candy cane ‘glitter’ (a.k.a. ‘dust’) on top and tell a story about it being ‘pink pixie glitter’!  It makes it magical and fun!

Peppermint Ice Cream | Inspiration KitchenHappy National Candy Cane day!

Enjoy!

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Peppermint Ice Cream | Inspiration Kitchen
Print Recipe

Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream

Course: Desserts
Author: Kristi

Ingredients

  • 1 cup skim milk * recipe modification - see note
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream * recipe modification - see note
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 3 teaspoons peppermint extract * recipe modification - see note
  • 7 drops red food coloring * recipe modification - see note
  • 1 and 1/4 cups crushed peppermint candy

Instructions

  • Mix skim milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a medium-size sauce pan. Heat on medium heat to 175 degrees; stir in sugar and salt until dissolved. SLOWLY pour eggs into saucepan, whisking constantly. Continue to cook over low heat until mixture is just thick enough to coat a metal spoon and a candy thermometer reads 160 degrees, stirring constantly. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Remove from heat immediately.
  • Quickly transfer to a large bowl; place bowl in a pan of ice water. Stir gently for 2 minutes. Stir in whipping cream, peppermint extract and red food coloring (if desired). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
  • Pour ice cream mixture into an ice cream machine and add peppermint candy. Churn per manufacturers instructions until ice cream is frozen with a soft consistency. Transfer ice cream into an air tight container and freeze until the soft-serve stage.
  • Serve!

Notes

*The original recipe called for 1 and 1/2 cups of half-and-half cream instead of the skim milk + 1/2 cup whipping cream. I used what I had on hand, which was the skim milk + 1/2 cup whipping cream - which contributed to the soft-serve consistency. Also, the original recipe called for 4 to 6 teaspoons of VANILLA extract. I substituted with 3 teaspoons of peppermint extract for additional peppermint flavor. The original recipe also did not call for food coloring, but I used 7 drops of red food coloring to get the pink color. I've provided a link to the original recipe if you want a different consistency of ice cream!

Recipe modified from Taste Of Home @ Peppermint Ice Cream Recipe.

Soft Serve Peppermint Ice Cream

Comments

  3. marcie says

    I’m still in a sugar coma, but I may as well stay there and eat this jammin’ ice cream! I love peppermint, and this is a great way to use up those old leftover candy canes. I adore soft serve, too. This is so pinned! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Kristi! 🙂

    Reply

    • Kristi says

      Thanks Marcie! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too! So glad you like soft-serve (so do I!!!), and thanks for the pin! xoxoxoxo p.s. you do know that staying in a sugar coma means you won’t have a sugar crash, don’t you? Hahaha! Sounds like a great plan to me!

      Reply

    • Kristi says

      Hahaha! Thanks Gina! I didn’t know it either until I went to search for Peppermint Ice Cream recipes. I was as shocked as you are! Good luck with your double-batch! Happy {almost} New Year!

      Reply

  7. Danielle says

    What a great way to use up leftover candy canes! I have several sitting in my pantry right now, so this is perfect. I love ice cream and soft serve anytime of year 🙂

    Reply

    • Kristi says

      Thanks Isadora! I usually miss the fun food days too – I just happened to fall upon it while looking how to use candy canes! Have a Happy New Year!

      Reply

  10. Simone says

    I would have never thought to make ice cream with candy canes. Love the idea. I do have to say that candy canes can be hard to find here although I always manage to get a few just for decoration purposes….:)

    Reply

    • Kristi says

      Wow Simone! I didn’t know candy canes were hard to find in your area. I’ve read that 1.76 billion candy canes are made every year. That’s a lot of candy canes! Happy New Year!

      Reply

  11. Kelly says

    Oh my goodness Kristi, this such a great way to use up the rest of the candy canes. What a brilliant idea! Soft serve ice cream is my favorite too and I could definitely go for a big bowl of this right now! Love the pretty color!

    Reply

    • Kristi says

      Thanks Kelly! I love soft serve ice cream. I like hard pack too, but soft serve has a special place in my heart – especially when it’s pink! xoxo

      Reply

    • Kristi says

      Great! So glad you found something you like Tina! I’d never had it before, but I absolutely adore it, and it was so easy to make at home. Especially with leftover candy canes! Happy New Year!

      Reply

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