A second life for candy canes...

I told my friend Maggie Mason about a family Christmas tradition we have regarding left over candy canes. While we love getting candy canes for Christmas, especially when they are picturesquely perched in our stockings, we don't particularly want to eat the whole darn thing.

So a few years back, we started gathering the left overs and making Candy Cane Ice Cream. It's delish, and takes care of those peppermint scragglers in one fell swoop. We'll be having ours with friends on New Year's Day after a lunch of homemade North Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ. Here's our favorite recipe, based on one we found in Joy of Cooking:

Peppermint Candy Cane Ice Cream
(requires ice cream maker!)

1/2 pound peppermint candy canes
2 cups milk (preferably whole - this is not health food, people)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whipping cream

Crush peppermint candy canes to very small pieces. Add milk to candy in a medium size bowl. Stir and refridgerate overnight. Add cream and whipping cream and thn freeze in ice cream maker per machine instructions. Enjoy!