Introduction: Strawberry Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

About: I enjoy being creative. A drafter in my day job I'm a tinkerer by nature always wanting to know why and how things work and if there is a better way to do it.

This is a favorite in my house.  It's definitely mine and my girlfriends favorite ice cream of all time. It's also incredibly simple to make and kind of fun to. I hope you all enjoy and go forth to experiment in your own kitchens with ice cream concoctions of all types and descriptions.

Step 1: Ingredients and Equipment

For this ice cream recipe you will need:

Ingredients

1 Cup Whipping Cream
1 Cup Half and Half
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Strawberry Puree
1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Oreo's

Equipment

Measuring Cups
Food Processor
Ice Cream Maker
Spatula
Knife
Cutting Board

Step 2: Ice Cream Mix Prep

First thing to do is to cut up the strawberries. Then into the food processor (or blender) until they're almost pureed. I don't totally liquify them because I like to have some chunks of strawberry in there to. I found about 2 cups of cut up strawberries gives me the 1 cup of puree I need. Next I add 1 cup of half and half, 1 cup of whipping cream, 1 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the strawberries in the processor and pulse a few times until everything looks to be mixed up (the cream will turn a light pink color). In order for the ice cream to properly form in the ice cream maker the mix needs to be as cold as possible while still a liquid so I stick it in the freezer for an hour if I'm in a rush or in the bottom back of my fridge for 4+ hours if I'm not to thoroughly chill it.

Step 3: Churning Time

I make ice cream fairly often so my ice cream makers frozen bowl is always in the freezer. Every one of these I've ever used says to freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours but in my experience longer is definitely better. After getting the maker set up and turned on I pour in the ice cream mix and let it churn for 30 minutes it shouldn't really take any longer than that for the ice cream to fully form. Once It's formed it goes into a container where I fold in the broken up oreo cookies and then stick it in the freezer to setup and harden for at least an hour. Then all there is to do is scoop and enjoy! (On a side note if you want this to keep for a bit in the freezer put some plastic wrap directly on top of the ice cream in the container then put the lid on. This never lasts more than a day in my house so I don't)

Step 4: Variations

The basic vanilla ice cream recipe is 2 cups whipping cream, 1 cup half and half, 1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract. I generally replace 1 cup of the whipping cream with fruit puree for different fruit ice creams, or replace all of the whipping cream with 1 cup of cream cheese and 1 cup of strawberry puree and then fold in crushed graham crackers for strawberry cheese cake ice cream, or replace 1 cup of heavy cream with 1/2 a cup of cocoa powder for chocolate ice cream. The possibilities are endless and open to experimentation and variation.

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