Sunday, July 17, 2011

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream


Growing up, I had just about every summer job you can imagine.

I always babysat, but I got my first 'real' job at 14, the summer before I went into high school.  I worked in the gift shop of a local aquarium on the boardwalk.

From there, I went on to work as a chambermaid in a bed & breakfast, an assistant manager of a frozen yogurt stand, a counselor at a day camp, a typist at a newspaper, an inventory-taker (!), and even a telemarketer (!!).  I also worked in a tanning salon, and the nursery of a gym where parents would drop off their kids while they worked out.

But one of my personal favorite employers was a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop I worked at during college.

First of all, I got a really cool bulging forearm muscle from scooping hard ice cream.  And secondly, I got to eat delicious ice cream every day, which is basically a dream come true.

To be honest, I took advantage of that perk much more at the frozen yogurt place than Ben & Jerry's (let's not lie, a cup of ice cream on a daily basis would be a little much).  But I did treat myself at least once a week.

And I probably tried 75% of the flavors there, but I always came back to Oatmeal Cookie Chunk.

Ummm... whoa.  Cinnamon sweet cream base with chunks of oatmeal cookies and fudge.  What could be bad about that?

So when I realized that July is National Ice Cream month, I decided I needed to try & replicate my old favorite.


But I wanted it to be completely homemade and I didn't feel like first whipping up a batch of oatmeal cookies just to crumble up for ice cream. So I devised a sort of crispy, sugary oatmeal crumble instead.

And while it's not a dead ringer... it's pretty freaking close.

Not to mention pretty freaking delicious.

And the cool part about it is it's an eggless ice cream! I've never made one of those before, but it came out really well.

Which reminds me- don't be tempted to replace the corn syrup, that's part of what keeps it scoopable (if you're like me & try to avoid the stuff whenever possible, this might make you feel better).

Either way... I think my former employer would approve.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Oatmeal Crumble
  • ½ C. old fashioned oats
  • 2 T. butter
  • 2 T. brown sugar
  • 1 T. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
  • pinch salt

Cinnamon Ice Cream
  • 2 C. lowfat milk
  • 1 T. plus 1 t. cornstarch
  • 2 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1 C. heavy cream
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 2 T light corn syrup
  • ½ t. cinnamon
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 C. chocolate chunks

Make the oatmeal crumble: Preheat oven 350 degrees and grease a baking sheet.

In a medium skillet, heat the butter over medium-low until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the oatmeal, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.

Spread oat mixture on prepared baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes, stirring halfway through baking.  Empty oats back into skillet to cool.

Make the ice cream:
  Measure out the 2 C. milk then take 2 T. of it and mix with the cornstarch in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth.  Prepare an ice bath in a container big enough for the bowl with the cream cheese to fit in it.  (An ice bath is just cold water with ice).

In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup and cinnamon over medium heat. Whisking occasionally, bring the milk mixture to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and simmer, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil (watch carefully so it does not boil over) and whisk over medium heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in the salt and vanilla. Set the bowl in the ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until room temperature (about 30 minutes).  Then refrigerate mixture until chilled, about 2 hours.

Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. With ice cream maker still on, add chocolate chunks & about 2/3 of the oatmeal, and mix to evenly distribute.  Pack the ice cream into a plastic container, and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream. Close with an airtight lid, and freeze the ice cream until firm, about 4 hours.  Use remaining 1/3 of oatmeal for sprinkling on served ice cream, if desired.

Ice Cream recipe adapted from Jeni Britton Bauer on Food & Wine; flavor inspired by Ben & Jerry's

24 comments:

  1. Oatmeal from BJ is one of my favorite flavors too! Awesome job, bookmarking to make real soon!

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  2. Yow!!! This looks amazing! It's funny, but with all the ice cream I've had in my lifetime, I don't recall ever having ice cream with oatmeal in it! But it seems so natural! That crumble recipe I'm going to scoop up for other things, too! AND..I notice you snuck some cream cheese in the mix there, too! YUMMY! : )

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  3. I love how we both share the same name! :)
    Would you mind sharing me some ice cream :)? haha this look delicious I am literally drooling!
    thank you for sharing!

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  4. I don't like raisins, so I hardly ever have oatmeal-type sweets, BUT I LOVE the combo of oatmeal and chocolate! This ice cream (especially with the cinnamon) sounds freaking amazing!

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  5. Now this is my kind of ice cream! Oatmeal, chocolate and sweet cream = heaven!

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  6. Oh my gosh Oatmeal Cookie Chunk is by far my favorite ice cream ever from Ben and Jerry's and I was SO DISAPPOINTED last year when I heard they stopped making it! I cannot wait to try this recipe at home so thanks for posting it!

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  7. Love the flavor choice here! I never knew Ben & Jerry's even had it, but it does not matter now-thanks to you I can make it at home. Yum!

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  8. I just love the idea of oatmeal cookies in ice cream. Fantastic. I would have been 18 zillion pounds, had I ever worked in an ice cream or froyo store! This is a great recipe...buzzed.

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  9. I thought every month was 'ice cream month' :) Your recipe sounds great and I think I have everything on hand to make this yummy treat!

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  10. If I ever worked at an ice cream place I would end up gaining twice my body weight. Especially with ice creams like this.

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  11. It's always beena dream of mine to work at an ice-cream shop. Free ice-cream please! Your recipe sounds really good!

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  12. Oh, I could eat ice cream every day when it is more than 80 degrees outside -- could and do or should are different of course.

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  13. This looks amazing! I love the idea of oatmeal crumble in there - sounds so delicious!

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  14. I'm sure I would have taken full advantage of ice cream and lots of it. My thighs would yell at me however. This is a fantastic recipe for the summer. Yummy!

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  15. Oh yum! I would love a few scoops of that right now.... That would be my dream job too - to work in an ice cream shop! Or an ice cream factory! What a treat :) Great post!

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  16. I've never had that kind of ice cream before, and it sounds delicious! Your ice cream looks so creamy and decadent I just want to grab a spoon and devour it!
    Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe and congrats on the top 9 today!

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  17. Yummy ice cream..and wonderful addition of oatmeal chocolate chunks..double yummy!!:) Congrats on top 9!

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  18. Congrats on the top 9, this ice cream looks to die for!!

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  19. me and a few twitter friends are having an online ice cream social this sunday and i'm thinking this one has to be on the docket. this is amazing!! i miiiight go the extra step and make some oatmeal cookies but then again this sounds splendid as is!! so beautiful! and eggless?! count me in!!

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  20. I just saw this on Foodbuzz and wow does it look delicious! I'll definitely be trying this sometime in the near future. Great post!

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  21. I've been making a lot of eggless ice creams lately, mainly because they take less time :) Love your blog - I'm your latest follower, and from NJ :)

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  22. Uhhhh.....YUM! SO top nineable! Congratulations!

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  23. Wow. Ive never heard of oatmeal chocolate chunk??? I have got to try me that! Immediately.

    Im with you - I wouldnt be able to eat it every day, but once a week sounds reasonable, especially if I was surrounded by it.

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