Moon Pie Ice Cream

Happy Mardi Gras! Mobile has been filled with moon pies, king cakes, beads, and parades over the past few weeks. I recently tried the mint moon pies for the first time, and I'm addicted. If you love Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, you will love these. They are identical as far as taste is concerned.
I decided to make a vanilla ice cream and mix moon pie pieces throughout for this year's Mardi Gras recipe. I used the mint moon pie, but you could use any kind you like.

Moon Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 mini moon pies (or 1 large moon pie), chopped into small pieces




Directions:

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Put the vanilla bean into the custard, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the chopped moon pies during the last 1 or 2 minutes of churning.

Source: Vanilla Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz