Mint Choc Chip Ice CreamPrint Recipe

I finally bought myself an ice cream maker – wahoo! And after using it a couple of times, I am wondering how my lets-eat-ice-cream-like-crazy family survived without one. Can I tell you that this machine is worth every penny and every single thing I have made has been better than fantastic.

Yes, I am fully aware that I have previously mentioned I am not a gadget person but I am totally prepared to create a little space in my kitchen for this blessed machine. Just as long as it’s happy – I want it to feel as though its part of the family.

I began my venture into frozen treat land with a blood orange sorbet and the following night got a little creative, adding some Campari. I will post the recipe soon, it was so good. Anyway, I eventually decided to venture into the custard style of icecreams and wanted to do something classic – hence the mint choc chip.

This Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream is intensely minty being that I blended the mint into it after steeping. You can, of course, discard it and have a milder mint flavour but we are fans of that really strong and fresh, minty burst. And rather than mix in shards or chips of chocolate we opted to melt it and drizzle it through the ice cream  – making the chocolate bits a little finer.

I have only had this machine for a week but the last time I made this icecream (two days ago) I had no chocolate and threw in some broken Oreo’s – fantastic! I think peppermint patties would also work really well – anything really, as long as it has a scrap of chocolate on it for that classic mint & chocolate combination. The sky is your limit and the world is your oyster – Mint Choc Chip is only the beginning, over to you…

Ingredients
2 cups full cream (whole) milk
2 cups whipping (heavy) cream
1 cup granulated suagr, divided
pinch of salt
2 cups of packed fresh mint leaves (around 40 grams/1.4 ounces)
5 large egg yolks
140 grams/5 ounces dark chocolate

Whisk together milk, cream, half the sugar and the salt – place into a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and add the mint leaves. Let steep for 20 to 30 minutes. After the steeping process you can opt to discard the mint leaves, however if you would prefer a fresher and stronger mint taste, then place the contents of your saucepan into a blender and blend for a good 5 minutes, until the mint is completely broken down (an immersion blender would work well if you have one, however I used an ordinary blender which was fine).

Once you have blended the mint leaves (or discarded them), place the mixture back in the saucepan and rewarm over a low heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until pale and thick. Once the mixture in the saucepan is almost ready to boil, add the egg mixture in a slow and steady stream. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly over a low heat but do not allow it to boil. After a few minutes the mixture should thicken and coat the back of the spoon – remove from heat immediately. It is important that the mixture does not boil because the eggs will overcook.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer and leave to come to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours at least, preferably overnight. From this point churn as per the directions of your ice cream maker.

Whilst the ice cream is churning, melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Once the ice cream is ready, spoon a layer into a container, drizzle with melted chocolate in random lines, spoon over more ice cream and drizzle again – do this until the chocolate and ice cream are all in the container. Let the chocolate set for a minute (or two) and then stir vigerously, breaking the chocolate into small pieces. Seal the container and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Notes: If you do decide to add another form of chocolate (such as crushed cookies or Peppermint Patties) then 1 cup should suffice. Add this in during the last two minutes of the ice cream being churned in the machine.

© 2011, Michelle. All rights reserved.