Ben & Jerry's Heath Bar Crunch Ice Cream

         When Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield first met in their seventh-grade gym class, they quickly became good friends. After college, the two decided they wanted to try their hand at selling ice cream. With $12,000 to invest, they moved from New York to Burlington, Vermont, where they purchased an abandoned gas station as the first location for their ice cream store.
        After passing a five-dollar correspondence course on ice cream making from Pennsylvania State University and spending their life savings on renovating the gas station, the two were oficially in the ice cream business. Ben and Jerry opened the doors to their first ice cream parlor in 1978. The pair's ice cream was such a big hit that they soon moved to a much larger facility. Today they are sold in stores worldwide.
       Heath Bar Crunch was one of the earliest flavors on the menu and is still the most popular of the thirty original chunky ice cream creations that made them famous.

5 Heath candy bars
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Freeze the candy bars.
2. Beat the eggs by hand until fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in the sugar.
4. Add the cream, half-and-half, and vanilla and mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze.
6. While the ice cream is freezing, place the frozen candy in a plastic bag and break them into small pieces with a knife handle.
7. When the ice cream is done, remove it from the ice cream maker and add the candy pieces. Mix well with a large spoon and store in the freezer.

MAKES 1 QUART

Tidbits

               The real secret to Ben & Jerry's ice cream is its consistency. It is a thick and creamy ice cream developed with special equipment that keeps a great deal of air out of the mixture. The less air in the ice cream, the thicker the consistency. Therefore, you may find the above recipe fills your ice cream maker a little more than other ice cream recipes.

             It's also important to get the right consistency of Heath bar chunks. Most of the candy bar should be crushed into crumbs, but stop breaking the candy when there are still several 1- and 1/2 inch chunks remaining.

              I hope you enjoy experimenting with this recipe and that you try substituting other ingredients for the Heath bar chunks, just as Ben and Jerry have. Try Reese's, Oreos, Kit Kats, Rolos, M&Ms, and cookie dough.