AMAZING S'mores Ice Cream

I saw a recipe for toasted marshmallow ice cream and I thought it would be amazing to go that extra step and turn it into a S'mores flavored treat.  The result is a creamy ice cream with the smoky flavor of toasted marshmallows, the crunch of crispy graham crackers, and a smooth ribbon of rich chocolate fudge.  I made this the other day with my friend Monika as my sous chef, and we watched some shark week while the ice cream was churning.  The perfect end to a day.  Thanks Monika!

Makes about 1 quart 

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

6 egg yolks

7 ounces of mini marshmallows

5 sheets of graham crackers broken up into pieces

3-4 tablespoons of chocolate fudge (make or just buy some if you want a shortcut)

Instructions:

1) If your ice cream maker has an inner bowl that has to be frozen, place it in the freezer the night before using.  Set up an ice bath (large bowl with ice and water) to cool the custard later on.  

2) Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl for a few seconds just to break them up and save for later use.

3) Spread out the marshmallows on a Silpat or nonstick baking sheet in a single layer.  Use a kitchen torch or your oven's broiler to toast the marshmallows.  Place in a blender and set aside. 

3) In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, warm up the milk, heavy cream, sugar and salt until simmering.  Be sure to whisk the mixture as it's heating to avoid burning the milk.  It's ready when you see little bubbles at the edge of the pan. 

4) Temper the eggs to avoid scrambling by adding a ladleful of the hot liquid to the eggs while constantly whisking them.  Repeat with 2-3 more ladlefuls then add all of the hot liquid, stir to combine, then pour back into the saucepan.

5) Heat up the mixture over medium low heat while (constantly stirring to avoid scrambling the eggs)  until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  

6) Strain into a bowl to remove any lumps.  The resulting liquid is your ice cream base.  

7) Add the ice cream base to the blender with the marshmallows and blend until smooth.  Pour into a medium metal bowl then place over an ice bath and stir to cool. 

8) Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.  The custard base will be slightly gelatinous because of the marshmallows but that won't effect the final result.

9) After cooling, churn the base according to your ice cream maker's directions.  I churned mine for 30 minutes.  

10) Toss in the broken graham crackers and churn for 30 seconds to mix them in.

11) Put the ice cream into the container you want to freeze it in by layering the ice cream and then adding a drizzle of fudge and repeating this until all of the ice cream is in the container and has ripples of fudge throughout.   

12) Freeze for 2 hours and then enjoy!