Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

 
Earlier this summer, I tried making mint ice cream, but it was a total disaster. It tasted like frozen heavy cream with a hint of mint, which was not what I was going for. Since mint chocolate chip is one of my favorite ice cream flavors, I was determined to find one that actually tasted good. I decided I wanted to try a recipe that used mint extract to get a stronger mint flavor in the ice cream. My first attempt at mint ice cream required fresh mint leaves, which sounded really good, but the mint flavor was not intense enough.

I accidentally found this recipe while looking for some outdoor/camping cooking recipes. I knew I wanted to try it since the ingredients sounded promising and the pictures looked great. This ice cream reminds me of the mint chocolate chip flavor I grew up with. I'm not a huge fan of using food coloring (mostly because I never have it and usually forget to buy it), so I kept the color natural, but you could easily add a couple drops of green color to get the more traditional mint ice cream look.

Recipe from My Kitchen Addiction via Completely Delicious
Makes about 4 quarts

2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon mint extract (I used peppermint)
2 drops green food coloring (optional)
3 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate or about 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped

Whisk together the egg yolks in a medium bowl.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the cream, milk and sugar. Stir occasionally until little bubbles form along the edges and mixture is steaming. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat.

Slowly add the milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. You can slowly pour the milk mixture into the bowl, in a small stream or ladle small amount of the milk mixture into the egg yolks. Either way, make sure you don't stop whisking.

Once combined, pour this mixture back into the saucepan and cook until thickened. Stir constantly during this step, and once the mixture coats the back of the spoon, remove it from heat.

Add the vanilla extract, mint extract, and food coloring (if using). Pour into a bowl and place in the fridge to chill for a few hours.

When chilled, prepare ice cream according to your machine's instructions. Add the chocolate pieces during the last 5 minutes of churning. I churned mine for 30 minutes and then froze it for an additional 4 hours.

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