Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

All over this property where we’re temporarily living is mint—a lot of mint.  You may know, if you plant mint, it takes over and grows everywhere.  One day a few weeks ago, Taylor picked a bunch of it and wanted me to make something with it.  He wanted to just put some of it in water and have mint water, which does not sound good to me.  Ice cream.  That sounds good!  I played around with some ingredient ideas.  I knew I didn’t want to make the ice cream with an egg custard.  Mostly because I feel too guilty eating full fat ice cream and wanted to lighten it up a bit.  The ice cream has a wonderful fresh taste.  I love it.  It’s not Kevin’s favorite (what is?).  It tastes nice and earthy and real.  Add that chocolate and it’s just wonderful.

I’ve now made the ice cream twice.  Just had to make sure it really is good, you know. ;)  I made it with a combination of whole milk, half and half and cream, but you could use any three cups of whichever you’d like.  Because I purposely wanted to make it lighter (it’s still not the lightest kind of ice cream!), it does have just a slight iciness to it, but it’s still plenty creamy and a perfect end to an evening.  Do you have mint by the bushels around you?  If so, you’ve got to try this great summer treat!

Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup whole milk

1 cup mint leaves (about 1/2 ounce), or to your liking, chopped

3/4 cup granulated sugar

pinch of alt

1 cup half and half

1 cup heavy cream

green food coloring, optional

2 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

Heat milk in saucepan on stove over medium heat with the sugar, salt and mint leaves added.  When it is hot, but not boiling, remove from heat and let mint seep in the warmed milk for about 45 minutes.  Add the half and half and cream.  Strain the mint leaves from the milk and press it against the strainer to release as much flavor as you can.  Add the food coloring if desired.  I used about seven drops.  You can then chill the mixture in the refrigerator or churn it according to the manufacturer instructions of your ice cream maker immediately (I have not taken the time to chill it—can’t wait that long. ;)  While the ice cream is churning, about 30 minutes, melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Once the ice cream is about done, slowly drizzle the melted chocolate in to the churning ice cream.  Enjoy as soft serve immediately or freeze for a few hours in an airtight container.

I don’t know why, but it wasn’t until after I came up with this that I realized David Lebovitz probably has a mint chip ice cream in his book, The Perfect Scoop, which is my ice cream “bible”.  I looked in the book and sure enough, there was his version of fresh mint ice cream.  I can’t believe I hadn’t thought to look in it.  But that said, his IS made with lots of egg yolks, so while I’m sure it’s as delicious as all his other ice creams, I like this version that I made.  Just because I’m nice (jk), I’ve got a link for you to David’s recipe that he just happened to post on his blog a couple weeks ago.  Great minds, that’s what I say.  I did get the idea for the melted, drizzled chocolate from his book when I recently made his Gianduja Gelato.  (Heavenly ice cream with hazelnuts!)  When you do chocolate that way, it is called stracciatella.  I like it much better than biting in to hardened chocolate chips in ice cream.  I suppose mini chips would be okay.

Enjoy some ice cream this summertime!