My birthday is coming up in a few days and for much of my life the celebration has included two special foods:
My Buba's peppermint cake and my Granny Tommie's Milky Way ice cream.
Buba, my paternal grandmother, was a peppermint fiend — keeping a handful of the candies with her at all times. (She also loved butterscotch candies.) For my birthday she always baked a peppermint cake — a basic white or yellow cake with crushed peppermints stirred into the batter before baking — and frosted with bright pink peppermint buttercream and sprinkled with crushed peppermints.
Granny Tommie, on my mom's side, would make Milky Way ice cream. Technically, she made the ice cream for our family's Fourth of July gathering, but like the holiday's fireworks, in my child mind it was just for me.
After they passed, my mom continued the tradition, but this year, mom is down with a broken foot.
So I'm making my own ice cream. I can do without the cake at least until this unbearable hot weather passes.
Note: The eggs in this recipe are not fully cooked. Uncooked eggs sometimes contain salmonella bacteria that can cause serious illness.
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Milky Way Ice Cream
- 5 regular-size Milky Way candy bars, divided use
- 3 cups whole milk, divided use
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Chop four of the candy bars roughly.
In a medium saucepan, combine the chopped candy bars and 1 cup of the milk and cook, stirring often, until candy bars are melted.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add a small amount of melted candy bar mixture to the eggs and mix well. Add remaining melted mixture to eggs. Stir in sugar and remaining milk. Add vanilla and salt and mix well.
In a bowl, whip cream to soft peaks. Gently stir the whipped cream into egg-candy mixture. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Transfer to an ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturers' instructions.
Meanwhile, finely chop the remaining candy bar. During the last few minutes of churning, add the finely chopped candy bar to the ice cream. Or sprinkle it on each serving.
We usually serve this right away, like a soft-serve. If a scoop-able ice cream is desired, transfer the churned mixture to a freezer container and freeze for about 4 hours before serving.
Makes 1 very generous quart.