Homemade Oreo 'Blizzards

Prepare the ice cream base: In a medium pot, bring the milk and cream to a simmer together with the vanilla bean. When the mixture begins to simmer, shut off the heat and cover with a lid. Steep for one hour, or as long as 2

If you plan to steep it for longer than 4 hours, stash the pot in the refrigerator. Meanwhile put the egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk sugar in gradually. It's a lot of sugar, so don't dump it in all at once or it will be difficult to incorporate.

Whisk in salt. Return dairy to a simmer and fish out the vanilla bean. Use a spatula to scrape out the heavily flavored cream from inside the pod. Set the bean aside for another use or discard.Now whisk some of the hot cream into the egg yolks, one ladle-full at a time, until egg mixture is quite warm. Then whisk egg mixture into the pot of cream. Turn heat to medium low. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure to scrape all along the bottom of the pot to avoid curdling.

Normally, ice cream recipes entreat you to cook until the mixture is "thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon," but with this recipe, that will never happen. Instead, cook until a thermometer registers 145° F. When it does, immediately shut off the heat and strain the custard through a sieve and into a large bowl. Stir in Frangelico. Cool in an ice bath and refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Prepare mix-ins: in the case of Oreos or other cookies, you may simply put them into a heavy duty zip top bag and smash them with a rolling pin. Large candies, like Reese's Cups or Snickers Bars will need to be chopped with a knife. Sticky mix ins, like cookie dough, need to be portioned into bit sized chunks with your fingers. Small candies like M&Ms may be stirred in as-is.

Finishing the Blizzard: Process chilled ice cream base in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions; take care not to over-churn. The base contains an incredible amount of cream and if neglected it will happily turn into frozen butter.You'll know the ice cream is ready when it has a familiar Blizzard-like body. When the ice cream has finished churning, stir in your mix-in(s) of choice with a rubber spatula and immediately divide into two 16 ounce portions.The Blizzard is best enjoyed immediately, preferably with a bright red spoon.