Thin Mint Ice Cream

Girl Scout cookie season may be one of my favorite seasons of the year. As a kid, I was a Girl Scout from Daisies up through the first year of Cadettes, so I have an intimate relationship with Girl Scout cookies. And each year I was a Girl Scout, I was a top seller. I don't think I ever was "the" top seller, but we always had a lot of customers and some very large deliveries to be done. I had my neighborhood on lockdown (other Girl Scouts knew it was my turf) and I was the only Girl Scout in my dad's office, so the majority of those orders were pretty easy to get. Then my grandparents would order a case of Thin Mints, and somehow manage to hold onto them the entire year that followed. I would go down to visit them in Birmingham over the summer and would be able to eat those perfectly frozen, delectable little Thin Mints, long after Girl Scout cookie season had passed.

So now that I'm an adult, ordering my Girl Scout cookies has become a top priority, because I feel like it's really important to support the Girl Scout organization. Their ideals of empowering young women and providing a safe, fun environment where girls can earn badges and explore new activities, is wonderful. Plus, their cookies are perfect, so it's a win-win.

This year, I discovered I had four piano students who were Girl Scouts and Will had a coworker whose daughter is a Girl Scout, so we had to spread our ordering wealth, which we did a pretty bad job at. A case and a half later, we are stocked up for awhile on Thin Mints and Samoas, with the additions of a few boxes of Trefoils and Dulce de Leche. With half our freezer taken up by Thin Mints and Samoas, the obvious next move was to turn them into ice creams with our favorite toy! Needless to say, our Thin Mint ice cream trumped any that I've ever bought!

Thin Mint Ice Cream (serves 4-6)
2 egg yolks
3/4 cups sugar, separated
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp Torani peppermint syrup
1/2 sleeve-3/4 sleeve of Thin Mint cookies, crushed

Combine egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar, stirring until light and fluffy. Add the rest of the sugar and stir in evenly. Then add heavy cream, milk, vanilla, and peppermint, stirring until mixture is combined. Refrigerate for at least two hours before making ice cream. Once mixture is chilled, place in ice cream maker, allowing to churn for 20 minutes. At the 20 minute mark, add crushed Thin Mints into ice cream slowly. Allow to stir in for 2-3 minutes before stopping ice cream maker to store and enjoy!