Mint condition...

If any of you have ever grown mint in your garden, you know that it can get out of control. My hubby was clearing out the overgrowth of mint in our backyard and didn't have the heart to throw it all out. His brilliant solution? Mint chocolate chip ice cream. Just when I thought I couldn't love him more!

The recipe we used is from simplyrecipes.com. It was a little more work than making the non-custard type ice cream but not difficult. The ice cream came out very rich and perfectly sweet. There was a mintiness to it but not at all like the store-bought variety, more subtle and natural. Instead of a semisweet or dark chocolate, I chopped up the milk chocolate chips I had in the cupboard. It turned out pretty tasty. Not the be-all end-all but really good. There is something charming about cooking with things that grow in your backyard.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Note that if you do not have fresh mint, you can make this mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe with peppermint extract. Skip steps 1 and 2, instead heating 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of cream and the sugar and salt until steaming. Continue with step 3. Add 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract in with the chilled custard mixture in step 6.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of fresh mint leaves (not stems), rinsed, drained, packed
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups heavy cream (divided, 1 cup and 1 cup)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate or dark chocolate, chopped fine, keep in the freezer until used

Method

1 Put the mint leaves in a heavy saucepan with the 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of the cream. Heat until just steaming (do not let boil), remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes. Reheat the mixture until steaming, remove from heat and let stand for 15 more minutes.

2 While the mint is infusing in step 1, prepare the remaining cream over an ice bath. Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set in ice water (with lots of ice) over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the bowls. Set aside.

3 Strain the milk cream mixture into a bowl, pressing against the mint leaves with a rubber spatula in the sieve to get the most liquid out of them. Return the milk cream mixture to the saucepan. Add sugar and salt to the mixture. Heat until just steaming again, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.

4 Whisk the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm mixture, but not cooked by it. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

5 Return the saucepan to the stove, stirring the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10 minutes.

If the custard base does not coat the back of the spoon, it is not ready.
When the custard base coats the back of the spoon, you can run your finger across the coating and have it not run. It is ready and should be removed from heat immediately, and poured through the sieve over the ice bath to stop the cooking.

6 Pour the custard through the strainer (from step 2) and stir into the cold cream to stop the cooking.

7 Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (at least a couple of hours) or stir the mixture in the bowl placed over the ice bath until thoroughly chilled (20 minutes or so). Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

8 Once the ice cream has been made in the ice cream maker it should be pretty soft. Gently fold in the finely chopped chocolate. Put in an airtight container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several hours. If it has been frozen for more than a day, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it before serving.
Note that there is no alcohol in this recipe. A few teaspoons of some spirits such as rum or bourbon will help keep the ice cream soft over several days. Even the alcohol in vanilla extract will help. If you have no added alcohol in a homemade ice cream recipe, we recommend that you eat it up quickly, in a day or two; beyond that point the ice cream will quickly get very very hard.
Makes 1 quart.

Cool Tools: