Cake Batter Ice Cream with Nerds Candy!

Unbelievably, I had not ONE trick or treater this Halloween.  Not one.  And I live in a big city!  I was so sure I'd have tons of tricksters, I bought a whopping amount of candy and now I'm left with three HUGE bowls that are overflowing.  I know I can make the old stand-by's of M&M cookies, or Snickers brownies of course, but what about the odd ball candies like Laffy Taffy and Sweet Tarts?  One of those candies I have staring at me in epic amounts, is Nerds.  If you don't know, Nerds are hard, crunchy candies in weird shapes.  They can be sweet or sour, depending on what flavor you get.  In my assorted bag of candies, I ended up orange and fruit punch flavored Nerds.  I don't know what made me do it, but I thought they'd be good in ice cream. 

I put them in a homemade Cake Batter flavored ice cream and boy, is it GOOD!  And so simple too with only 3 ingredients!  Cake mix, Cool Whip and cream.  Well, and Nerds candy.  The ice cream itself is so creamy, thick and rich.  Some ice creams I've made in my ice cream maker have been kinda "icy" (for lack of a better term), almost like a sherbet but this recipe was textured like the commercial churned ice creams you can buy.  The cake batter addition makes it taste similar to the Birthday Cake flavors you see at the mix-it-up ice cream shops. So fun to bite into those Nerds and not only get a little crunch but also a zinger pop of flavor!  Delicious on all accounts!

Cake Batter Ice Cream with Nerd Candy

1 cup of cake mix (I used a plain vanilla)
1 cup of thawed Cool Whip
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup of Nerd Candy

Mix the cake mix, Cool Whip and cream in a bowl and whisk till smooth.  Chill for at least an hour in the fridge.  Follow your ice cream maker's instructions and churn your ice cream mix for 15 minutes till thick.  Add in the Nerd candy the last 2 minutes of churning.  Place into a covered container and freeze 4 hours+.

Makes 1 pint approximately.

(don't toss out your leftover cake mix...put it in a bag and save it for next time!)

PS:  Tomorrow will post the spicy pumpkin muffins results for Military Test Kitchen. Soo good!