Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream—is there anything better? Sure, you could buy it in a pint or trek to a scoop shop, but ice cream made in your own kitchen not only tastes better, it has a bit of magic to it. The best part is you don't need any fancy equipment to make homemade ice cream. We've been known to whip up a batch of vanilla in everything from a zip-top plastic bag to a mason jar. As for this no-churn cookies and cream ice cream? All it requires is an electric mixer (or a whisk and a heck of a lot of arm strength, if you want a workout) and a bowl, plus some time in the freezer to let the mixture set up.

As with all great cookies and cream ice cream (it also answers to cookies 'n' cream, natch), this one has the perfect ratio of creamy vanilla ice cream to chunks of cookies. We used chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos are classic, but other brands work well too), but you could mix in an equivalent amount of cookie chunks for a different flavor. Vanilla cream sandwich cookies would be delicious for those who don't like chocolate, or you could smash up chocolate chip cookies and mix those in instead. The (delicious) possibilities are endless.

To get that perfect irregular mix of big and small cookie pieces, place the cookies in a resealable plastic bag and whack with a big ladle or other spoon to crush.