Bubble Gum Ice Cream

Bubble gum ice cream is a total kid guilty pleasure food. Wait, do kids have guilty pleasures? I don't know. But, putting bubble gum in your ice cream had to be invented by a kid. It's sort of bananas, considering you're really not supposed to eat (swallow) gum. Elsie asked me if I would make bubble gum ice cream for our neice's birthday party this weekend. Let's just say there's a lot of pink involved. 🙂 I was excited to give it a try! My main goal was to make sure the ice cream itself tasted like bubble gum, with or without consuming the extra bubble gum pieces scattered throughout the batter. Here's what I cam up with. Bubble Gum Ice Cream, makes about 5 pints.

3 cups whole milk
6 oz. bubble gum
2 cups sugar
10 egg yolks
3 cups heavy whipping cream
pink (or red) food dye (optional)

First we make bubble gum flavored milk (!!!!!!). In a bowl combine the whole milk with four ounces bubble gum. Allow that to soak for 6-8 hours (or overnight). This will make the milk a soft pink color. Remove the gum, reserve the milk.In a large pot combine the bubble gum milk with the sugar. Stir together over medium heat so the sugar dissolves. In a smaller bowl whisk together the egg yolks. Pour one cup of the warm milk mixture into the eggs, stirring as you do. This will temper the yolks. Now pour the yolks into the milk pot. Continue to stir and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens (6-8 minutes). Your mixture should be like a very thin custard, not grainy with specks of cooked eggs. If you find you do have a few specks simply strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve before proceeding.

In a large bowl combine the milk/yolk mixture and the heavy whipping cream. The yellow yolks may have changed the color of your batter. So, if you choose you can add some food dye here to get it back to that soft pink hue. Allow the mixture to cool in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours (or overnight). Pour the batter into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions to make ice cream! During the last few minutes of mixing add in the remaining two ounces of gum (cut into small bite size pieces).If you are serving this to super young children and you're concerned about the bubble gum content feel free to leave those last two ounces out of the batter. The ice cream will still taste like bubble gum, since we started the whole thing off with bubble gum flavored milk. 🙂 Enjoy! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman, final photo (of Emma holding the ice cream): Trey George