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Sweetly festive, this Peppermint Ice Cream comes together with basic ingredients to create a creamy treat. This Philadelphia style (or egg-free) ice cream is made with a combination of peppermint and vanilla flavoring, plus bits of candy canes and chunks of dark chocolate swirled throughout.
Candy Cane Ice Cream
If you’re a fan of peppermint, then this is the ice cream recipe for you!
This Homemade Peppermint Stick Ice Cream is:
- Easy To Make
- Perfectly Creamy
- Dye-Free
- Egg-Free
The combination of vanilla and peppermint flavorings gives a perfectly balanced cold, peppermint taste without being overwhelming.
Want more ice cream flavors? Try our popular Bubblegum Ice Cream, Dulce de Leche Ice Cream, and Banana Pudding Ice Cream.
Ingredients Needed
- Whole Milk: Balances out the fats when combined with the cream for the base of the ice cream. Too much fat can create a greasy mouthfeel when eating your ice cream.
- Heavy Cream: The fat in the cream creates a smooth, creamy texture.
- Sugar: The white sugar sweetens and helps to create a scoop-able texture to the ice cream.
- Candy Canes & Dark Chocolate: Stirred through the ice cream after churning,
- Peppermint & Vanilla Extract: More flavor! Using a combination of peppermint and vanilla gets a nice mellow, cool peppermint flavoring throughout.
How to Make Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream
If you’ve ever made ice cream before, this is a very straightforward recipe to follow. We’re using a basic ratio of 1 part milk to 2 parts cream to ensure there’s a balance for a nice creamy finish. The sugar is also an important part in that it creates the texture of the ice cream, lowering the freezing point to prevent ice crystals from forming.
- Warm up the milk slightly, to 100℉/37℃ using either the microwave or the stovetop. Whisk in the sugar until dissolved. Warming the milk slightly helps the sugar completely dissolve.
- Stir in the vanilla, peppermint, and salt. Then pour in the heavy cream whisking until well combined.
- Chill the ice cream mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes, then pour into your frozen ice cream bowl. Or follow directions according to your ice cream churn.
- Churn the ice cream for 20 minutes until smooth and creamy.
- Scoop the ice cream into a freezer safe container. Add the chopped up dark chocolate and crushed peppermints, then fold those into the ice cream.
- Seal the container and place in the freezer to allow the ice cream to continue freezing for at least 6 hours before serving.
Success Tips
Warming the milk in the first step will help the sugar to dissolve giving you a nice smooth ice cream base. And then chilling the mixture before churning helps to ensure that the ice cream is cooling down as quickly as it can which also helps with the end texture.
Ice Cream Makers
I personally have this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. It can make 1.5 quarts of ice cream, although I find when I add any more than 3 cups of liquid it overflows while churning. I have my eye on this larger version (and I have a friend who uses this one and loves it, so I feel confident in recommending it also.)
FAQs
Store your ice cream in glass or silicone containers with air tight lids. I love using deep and wide containers because it makes it easier to scoop out the ice cream. This is the glass container that I use, and here is a recommendation for a silicone container.
Homemade ice cream is best enjoyed within the first 3 weeks. After this time the texture can become more icy instead of creamy, plus it can end up with a layer of frost and ice crystals due to freezer burn.
Absolutely. The beauty of making your own ice cream is being able to switch it up. If you would rather use chopped up peppermint bark in the ice cream instead of crushed candy canes and chocolate (or in addition to) you can!
More Christmas treats
Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk (warmed to 100℉/37℃)
- 2 cups (475 ml) heavy cream
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (80 g) crushed candy canes (approximately 10 mini canes)
- 1.75 ounces dark chocolate chopped
Instructions
- Warm up the milk slightly, to 100℉/37℃ using either the microwave or the stovetop. Whisk in the sugar until dissolved. Warming the milk slightly helps the sugar completely dissolve.
- Stir in the vanilla, peppermint, and salt. Then pour in the heavy cream whisking until well combined.
- Chill the ice cream mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes, then pour into your frozen ice cream bowl. Or follow directions according to your ice cream churn.
- Churn the ice cream for 20 minutes until smooth and creamy.
- Scoop the ice cream into a freezer safe container. Add the chopped up dark chocolate and crushed peppermints, then fold those into the ice cream.
- Seal the container and place in the freezer to allow the ice cream to continue freezing for at least 6 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
