stuart james beall

I’ve tweaked this peppermint ice cream recipe, to work in a Whynter ice cream machine, with a 1.5 quart bucket.

This is my son’s favorite, so far. On my first attempt, I used about 8 ounces of hard peppermint candy. That was too much, and it was frustrating trying to hammer out the hard candy, watching chunks flying in every direction available. I next tried a garlic press, to crush about 12 typical candy canes, which yielded 5 ounces.

Bruce Stettler (my father-in-law) had the best idea yet. He had my son break and unwrap a dozen candy canes, put them into a ziplock bag, and crush them with a wooden rolling pin, on the kitchen counter. My son did not roll them. He held the rolling pin with two hands, and hammered out the candy.

Measure out 28 ounces of heavy whipping cream into the pail or bucket. Add 16 ounces of whole milk.

You can try this liquid substitution:

• Half & Half, 3 Cups.
• Heavy Whipping Cream, 3 Cups.

Add 3/4 Cup of cane sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Churn for 15 minutes, then start adding the crushed candy. If you don’t wait the 15 minutes, the largest chunks will settle to the bottom of the pail, into a sticky mess.

The Whynter machine can churn up to 60 minutes for a cycle, but for my recipes, it starts to bind at about 36 minutes. You may then remove the paddle and switch to cooling only.