A Draft from the Archives

Clearly I took a long break from this blog thing because I found a few drafts that were extremely old. This one in particular I felt need to be shared because it was that good. Here is the original post that never made its way to you.

Holiday Leftovers: Candy Canes

Every year there seems to be certain things that are still floating around after the holidays. In our house, one of those things is candy canes. We decorate our tree with them so there is always an abundance of them after the tree gets taken down. So, I was thinking to myself, what can I make with these?

My answer?

Spiked Peppermint Gelato.

Yep.

New Year's Eve I tried a new drink called Whipped Cream Vodka. It is basically a cream flavored vodka, so adding it to any soda makes it taste like yummy cream soda. So I bought some.

(Now, you can easily omit the vodka and make plain ol' peppermint gelato. I was just itching to cook with my new purchase. Also, I was reading through another spiked ice cream recipe and it mentioned that the alcohol helped keep the gelato soft when freezing it, which is a plus.)

The gelato recipe I made was super simple so I didn't even stop to take pictures of the step by step... sorry.

But here it is freezing in the ice cream maker.

Spiked Peppermint Gelato
1 cup cream
2 cups milk (I used whole milk because that is what I have in the fridge, but also I think it gives a fuller texture to the gelato... 2% also works. I have never used skim milk in ice cream making, though, and don't think you should either. If you're gonna eat ice cream, you might as well eat ice cream, if you catch my drift.)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 candy canes, unwrapped
2 Tablespoons whipped cream vodka

Note: My ice cream maker is a self contained one so I don't have to use ice or salt or freeze the bowl beforehand. If your ice cream maker is one of those breeds, you can get all that ready before starting the mixing.

In a bowl, mix together cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour mixture into bowl of ice cream maker. Turn ice cream maker on (I turned by dial to 30-mins) and let the freezing begin.

While the gelato is freezing, put unwrapped candy canes into a ziploc bag and, using a kitchen mallet or rolling pin or hammer, crush the candy canes into desired sizes. When the gelato is beginning to get thick, pour in the candy canes. If your ice cream maker has an enclosed bowl, stop the machine, remove the lid, and pour the candy canes evenly around the top of the gelato. My machine has a little spout in the top of the lid, which allowed me to slowly pour the crumbles into the mixture.

If you are skipping the "spiked" part of the recipe, you are done here. Just let your gelato thicken completely and serve with crushed peppermints on top and maybe some yummy warm chocolate sauce.

If you are indeed going to spike your gelato, read on...

When the mixture is almost completely done, pour in the vodka. Let the vodka mix into the mixture. You may need to stop the machine and manually stir in the vodka a bit – I did. And now all you have to do is wait for the mixture to continue freezing. The gelato may not get as thick as desired because of the vodka, so if you want to serve more firm scoops, transfer the gelato into a container and put it into the freezer until ready to serve.

Or... you could do like me and eat a bowl of the melty yumminess and then put it in the freezer before you share.

Enjoy!

Abigail