Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream

 Labor day gave us occasion for the bi-annual church picnic and dessert contest.  This time it was a homemade ice cream contest.  I decided to try and come up with a s'mores ice cream recipe.

My first thought was using marshmallow cream.  When I looked on the internet for inspiration I found two different methods for marshmallow ice cream, and both started with actual marshmallows.  One version melted them with milk, and the other version put them in a blender with milk.  I opted for the melting type--it seemed more "s'morey."

 I used the recipe for marshmallow ice cream here, but toasted the marshmallows first like this custard-style recipe to add to the fire-cooked s'mores flavor.  

The marshmallows are then melted into the milk mixture before churning.

In the end the marshmallow ice cream tasted pretty good, I used whole milk and cream--2 cups of each, but I really felt like the marshmallow flavor didn't come through as much as I would have liked.  Next time I would lower the amount of cream to one cup.  Then it would be the same proportions of milk and cream in our Lemon Basil Ice Cream  (which was the other entry we took to the picnic) then hopefully there would be a less-diluted marshmallow flavor. 

 The other important elements of a s'more are the graham cracker, and the chocolate.  So I thought I would put in crumbled graham crackers, and then either chocolate chips or fudge or both!  But then my mom noted that the graham crackers would get soggy--drat.

I realized that dipping the graham crackers in chocolatewould create a sogg-proof protection for the crackers.  I just melted some chocolate chips in a bowl and stirred in the crackers and spread them out on a sheet. 

 The boys oversaw Jeremy and the ice cream churn.  The marshmallow milk mixture had set up again in the fridge so it was in a more frothy marshmallow top layer and a milk later underneath.  We just dumped it all in and assumed it would get mixed up fine in the 30 minutes of churning. 

 The chilled chocolate-coated-graham-crackers waited.

We folded them into the finished marshmallow ice cream and hardened the whole batch in the freezer. 

I had a lot of fun tinkering with the idea and coming up with a delicious final product.  Jeremy and my ice creams both brought home awards.  Afterwards Jeremy said he doesn't think we should enter the contest next time because we always win and get attention for our sometimes "out there" entries.

So I kind-of see his point, but at the same time I LOVE this kind of thing.  I was scheming for the three weeks after they announced the contest until the picnic day.  And it's not like Jeremy and I are professionals or anything, we're just food enthusiasts.   

So what do you think?  Keep at it, or "let the other girls have a chance to exhibit!"?