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Capture the magic of the holiday season in a single scoop with this incredibly creamy, homemade peppermint ice cream. Infused with crushed candy canes and pure peppermint extract, this ice cream delivers the perfect festive crunch and cool flavor. Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream is the ultimate cool and creamy holiday treat.

Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream

Name: Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 25 h
Cuisine: Plant Based
Ingredients: 1/2 cup dairy free whipping cream (I used Rich’s Whip); 1/2 cup dairy free coffee creamer (I used vanilla flavored oat coffee creamer); 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, optional; 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract; 1/4 cup crushed peppermint candy (can use more); 1/2 cup (peppermint) mini marshmallows, optional; crushed peppermint candy and mini marshmallows for garnish

During the Holiday season, special effort is made to give everything that homemade touch. Holiday decorations, cookies, special foods, even matching pajamas! I wanted to come up with the perfect winter Holiday season dessert, that’s quick to make with simple “I’ve got this in my pantry” ingredients. Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream is just the thing to top off all the warm, welcoming desserts and drinks that are so common during this season. Imagine a warm brownie, slice of chocolate cake or a big mug of hot chocolate topped with Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream. So festive. So delicious!

Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream – Yum. Just YUM!

Making Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream

I’m kind of in the middle of a personal project: Finding the absolute best one pint ice cream maker. It took a little bit of effort, but I now have three different brands and four one pint ice cream makers. My plan is to do a review of them all and let you know which one is the best, along with a slew of new recipes that I’ve put together.

I bought a bunch of these Tasty Ice Cream Makers on Woot.com. The issue is that you need to watch for them as they sell out quickly. They usually run between $7.99 and $9.99 on Woot. I’m posting similar ones that you can get on HSN below.

One of the things I like about using the pint ice cream makers is that you get just enough for a family dessert for Shabbat. You can serve it on brownies or chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie or just plain. You’re not left with a lot of extra ice cream to store in the freezer, and for those of us that are trying to watch our weight and sugar intake, a smaller container is a big blessing.

A one pint container is a must! I bought a set of four on Amazon.

Back to the Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream

When I first started making homemade ice cream, it was a total disaster. I didn’t really follow a recipe, I just kind of threw some stuff together and poured it into the ice cream maker. The ratios were off and there was way too much volume of ingredients and it ended up overflowing. The rest that remained in the ice cream maker was basically frozen coconut liquid. Sweet, but not the right consistency.

I did some research and tried another vanilla recipe (along with others I’ll share in the next ice cream post) and again, it was good, but not perfect.

Now this is the perfect Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream.

Adding Xanthan Gum to the Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Part of the reason I’m adding a small amount of xanthan gum to the recipe is that I’m making my ice cream completely vegan/plant based/dairy-free/pareve. That means that I’m not working with stuff like real whipping cream and whole milk – which would change things dramatically. To solve the consistency issue I’m adding a very small amount of xanthan gum as part of my vanilla ice cream base. The result is really perfect.

Adding xanthan gum will give your Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream the perfect thick soft serve consistency right out of the ice cream machine. If you transfer it to a container and freeze it for a few hours, you’ll get your typical ice cream texture that you can scoop into a bowl.

If you don’t have, or prefer not to use Xanthan Gum, feel free to leave it out. The consistency won’t be quite as creamy but will still be delicious.

Making sure to freeze the ice cream maker container long enough.

This is a rookie mistake. If you don’t freeze the base for at least 24 hours, it wont be cold enough to freeze the ice cream as it’s churning. Some bases you may even need to freeze longer. I found that with the Cuisinart brand one.

Cuisinart ® 1 Pint Wonder Ice Cream Maker is awesome! Just make sure you freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours. This image is an affiliate link to Kohls. If you use code MYFAMILY25 as of the writing of this post, you can get an additional 25% off.

Make sure to use good ingredients

While filming the Instagram Reel, I used some older creamer. The expiration date was still good, however it had been opened and probably not shaken sufficiently. When I added it to the whipping cream it was too liquidy and the ice cream was not as stiff as I might have liked it to be. Once it was frozen it was fine, but not exactly perfect.

It’s really important to get fresh, quality ingredients for your Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream.

Fun with Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream

During the Holiday season peppermint is all the rage! I was able to find peppermint (kosher/pareve) marshmallows at Trader Joes, so I tossed those into this batch.

Crushed peppermint dust is also trending. I made mine by putting some peppermint candies in a gallon bag and going at them with my kitchen mallet. It was extremely satisfying.

Feel free to add as much or as little as you like to your batch.

Here’s the Recipe for Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream

This is a super simple recipe to make, and my family and friends went crazy over it. Don’t worry if you can’t find some of the ingredients like peppermint marshmallows or don’t want to add them. It’s going to be fabulously delicious either way!