Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

"Wow! That doesn't taste like Mylanta!" -Reid

Mint chocolate chip ice cream is my favorite classic ice cream flavor, but my husband never shared my love of that Blue Bell mint chocolate chip with it's garish in-your-face-green color and a flavor he associated with heartburn/stomach medication.  I think I've converted him with this recipe.

That deserves making another pint.  And another. And another.  It's now a summertime staple, especially when our mint plant needs some pruning (you can only make so many Mojitos...).  The great thing about using fresh mint in any recipe, especially ice cream, is that it does what extracts can't do: provide that subtle, cool, refreshing feeling that is exactly what you want on a 100 degree Austin August summer day.

Adapted from David Lebowitz's recipe.

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients:

  • 2 c. heavy whipping cream
  • 1 c. whole milk
  • 2 cups fresh mint leaves
  • 2/3 c. sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 5 egg yolks, beaten
  • 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Bring 1 c. of the whipping cream, the whole milk, sugar and salt to a rolling boil in a 2 qt pot.
  2. Take off heat and add mint leaves.  Cover with a lid and allow to steep for at least 1 hr.
  3. After mixture has cooled, strain mint leaves from mixture using a fine mesh sieve.  Use a rubber spatula or clean hands to wring out any of that delicious mint flavor and color from mint leaves before discarding.  
  4. Heat milk mixture back to medium.
  5. Prepare an ice bath and pour remaining cup of cream in a separate glass bowl.
  6. Temper the egg yolks with a few tbs of the warm milk mixture, then pour the egg yolks into the milk mixture.  You don't want to scramble the egg yolks!  Once the mixture hits 170*F on instant-read thermometer, or it coats the back of a spatula, remove from heat.  
  7. Working quickly, mix mixture into cream and cool in ice bath.
  8. Cool in the fridge overnight.  Follow ice cream machine guidelines for churning ice cream.  
  9. My ice cream machine allows me to pour in mix-ins so to add chocolate: Melt chocolate chips in double boiler or microwave 20 seconds at a time.  I pour my melted chocolate directly into my Cuisinart ice cream maker, which creates fine, wispy veins of chocolate.*
  10. Transfer to freezer for at least 2 hours to harden before enjoying.
*Note: I have also added chips directly in with the ice cream.  It's equally delicious.



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