After wanting an ice cream maker forever I finally treated myself and set out on a mission to whip up the most tasty flavors of my favorite food possible. For my first foray into the ice cream making world, I chose to experiment a bit and use the bag of Peppermint Coated Pretzels that I had grabbed from Trader Joe’s + a little hot fudge for good measure, and I’m officially hooked on homemade ice cream. I’ll admit it was a lot more work than I had expected (for some reason I never realized cooking was involved in making ice cream) but the end result makes up for it all.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 c. whole milk
• 1.5 c. heavy cream
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• Peppermint Pretzel Thins (mine were from Trader Joe’s)
• Hot Fudge

Instructions:

1. Combine milk, cream, 1/2 c. sugar, vanilla and salt in a saucepan and heat until almost boiling, then remove from heat.
2. Whisk eggs and remaining sugar together until smooth in Kitchen Aid mixer. Slowly add in liquid from stove while mixing and beat until everything in combined.
3. Pour mixture back into saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly (takes about 10-15 minutes)
4. Chill overnight in fridge, pour into ice cream maker and follow machine’s instructions (make sure your bowl is really frozen – 24 hours in the back of your freezer works best). In the final 10 minutes of stirring in the ice cream maker, add in your chopped up pretzels and hot fudge.
5. When ice cream is done, pour into container and swirl more fudge between layers. Freeze until hard (this may take awhile – don’t stress!)