7-Layer Cookie Ice Cream & a Sweet 16

Sixteen years ago, we were married.  Sixteen years ago, I made the best decision I've ever made.  Sixteen years ago, I started a life with my love and my best friend.

{Sixteen years ago, I was having a size 8 wedding dress taken IN. *what happened?*}

For sixteen years, here are 16 reasons I love this man I married.  

Dear Mr. E,

1. I love that you love my family.
2. I love that you calm my tendency to be *slightly* overemotional.
3. I love your corny puns (even if I roll my eyes).
4. I love that you're my own personal combination of Don Draper/Phil Dunphy/Mike Rowe, only better.
5. I love that you are the first person I want to share news with, good or bad.
6. I love that you're an even better dad than I imagined you would be.
7. I love that you read my friends' blogs (and love them as much as I do).
8. I love that you take the question, "does this cookie look better with or without sanding sugar" as seriously as I do. 
9. I love that you bring home Starbucks.
10. I love that you provide for us, even when it means extra work or long hours.
11. I love that being in the same room with you makes me instantly secure.
12. I love that you finish all of the crazy projects I dream up, like say, buying a 100-year-old piano at Goodwill and painting it yellow.
13. I love that you fill up the gas tank in my car.
14. I love that you have the courage of your convictions.
15. I love that you wash the dishes...even the icing tips.
16. I love that you picked me. ♥

Also, I love that you love ice cream.  

When my uncle was in town over the summer, we talked about the big issues...like this flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream not sold in stores.  It's 7-layer cookie ice cream...and while I've never had it, my uncle did a pretty great job of describing it in a way that made me slightly obsessed.

So, rather than fly out to Vermont to try it myself, I made up a little version right here at home.  You know all those flavors in 7-layer cookies...the graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, pecans, sweetened condensed milk, butter?!?  They're all in here.

Bottom line: you need this in your life.  Just ask Mr. E. 

7-Layer Cookie Ice Cream

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) salted butter, melted
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/3 cup finely chopped pecan pieces, lightly toasted
2 cups whipping cream
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk, chilled

Stir together the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl. Place in the refrigerator to chill.

In another bowl, stir together the coconut, chips and pecans.  Place in the refrigerator to chill.

Whisk the cream and sweetened condensed milk together until well combined.  Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions, about 25-30 minutes.

Five minutes before the ice cream cycle is complete, add in the chilled coconut, chips and nuts, and continue to process for the remaining five minutes.

Scoop out the finished, soft ice cream into a freezer container, adding in bits of the graham cracker mixture, trying to keep some of it in chunks.

Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down onto the ice cream and freeze for several hours until hardened and scoopable.

Happy anniversary, sweetie. ♥ 

Here's to many more years of eating ice cream together.

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