I love mint ice cream. It’s one of may favorite things in life. Want some?
One of the great pleasures of having a garden is you get to eat it. 🙂 One of my favorite plants in the garden is my mint. Because mint is so invasive, the mint is kept in a separate 30 x 30 container.
We’ve had these plants 6 years and they come back strong every year. With a little water and tender loving care the mint simply abounds and flows down the sides of its container. It’s so abundant that during the summer months I make mint iced tea daily instead of coffee. I love to take a piece of mint and crush it in my fingers and smell the wonderful aromatics. Baby Lady chuckles every time she sees me do this because she knows how much I love mint. Now that it’s grilling time, it’s also time for dessert and last night’s dessert was this wonderful chocolate chip mint custard ice cream. All natural, silky smooth, cooly refreshing with a little crunch from the delightful chocolate chips. If your looking for a cool and refreshing summertime dessert you really need to try this. This is what we did.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, yolks only
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 oz. (56 grams) fresh mint leaves
- 5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 Tbsp Creme de Menthe
Instruction
Put the mint into the sauce pot.
Now, pour the milk into sauce pot.
Place over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until it begins to boil.
Remove from heat and allow to steep and cool for 10 minutes. Place in a blender and blend on highest speed for 30 seconds.
This will extract all of the wonderful mint flavor and color from the leaves. Now strain through a fine mesh sieve using a rubber spatula to extract all of the liquid and flavors from the leaves.
Now, add the cream
then the sugar
Return to stove over medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolved and the liquid is hot, roughly 155 F.
Remove from heat. Separate the eggs, place the yolks in a bowl and lightly whisk. Temper the eggs by slowly pouring a cup of the hot liquid into the yolks while whisking.
Now, pour the mixture back into the sauce pot.
Return to stove over medium low heat, stirring frequently to keep the eggs from curdling and cooking to the bottom of the pot. Heat the mixture until it coats the back of a spoon, roughly 181 F, approximately 8 minutes. DO NOT BOIL or it will curdle the eggs.
Add vanilla.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes, or so. When sufficiently cool, pour into the ice cream maker and follow the instructions to make ice cream.
When the ice cream is thick and almost done, add the semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Right before you are done, add the creme de menthe. The alcohol in the creme de menthe will keep the ice cream from fully freezing in the freezer and being brick hard. It also adds a nice touch of flavor. If you don’t like creme de menthe, add creme de cacao.
When done, remove from machine, place in a container and freeze for 1 hour.
When ready to serve, scoop a couple of scoops into a bowl, add a little sprig of fresh mint and sprinkle chopped pecans on top. Serve & enjoy.
REMCooks 
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Your ice cream looks fabulous. My grand daughters are crazy for choc mint ice cream. I might have to hold back on the creme de menthe, but I’ll definitely make this for them next time they come to stay. Thanks
Hi, Sandra. Thanks for the nice compliment. 🙂 The alcohol is minimal 0.5 oz per 1.5 qt/48 oz. It is just enough to add a little flavor and keep the ice cream from freezing brick hard.
This looks great, I’m a sucker for mint chocolate chip.
Hi, Jacob. Thanks for dropping by and the nice compliment. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is hard not to like. 🙂 It may not be the prettiest green in the world but it’s all natural color. 😉
Richard, can you give me some pointers on growing mint or basil? I’m trying to grow some fresh herbs indoors and as soon as I put them into pots, they die. I can’t figure out why as I used moist soil, plant food, and put them in an area with ample sunlight.
Stef
Hi, Stef. I wish I could give you pointers about growing things inside. I kill everything I grow inside. All of the herbs and spices I grow are outside on the patio or around the trees. I do, however, pick fresh basil and put it in a small juice glass of water if I picked too much. Oddly enough I have very good luck in getting it to root that way. Of course, when I transplant it back outside it dies. 😦 I have some that I noticed today that had really good roots on them and I’m going to try to pot them indoors with the hope of transplanting them outdoors after a week or 2. Basil is a pretty hardy plant and thrives in heat. You have to water it but make sure you don’t drown it, i.e. you must have good drainage. Mint, also, is pretty hardy and is darn hard to kill. It will take over grass it’s that hardy. It is OK with heat as long as it gets good water. You find mint growing where there is a lot of water but you can drown it if it sits in water. That’s all I really know.
Have you ever tried an AeroGarden? They work pretty well but I never was able to get much of a harvest. My father-in-law uses his to get the plants growing and then transplants them into pots. He has had amazing success with his indoor plants that way. Wish I knew more to tell you.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for that the informative reply. Unfortunately, I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment and have no place to plant things outside. My mom grows pots and pots of Thai basil outside her yard and they do grow rampantly like you mentioned. I pulled some off with the roots and tried planting them inside but to no avail. I haven’t heard of the AeroGarden but I will look it up. Thanks Rich!
What lovely sounding recipe. I also like to use an infusion of fresh mint for ice cream and other custard or dairy based desserts. It gives such a fresh flavor. Your ice cream looks great!
Thanks for dropping by and your nice compliment. We’re glad you liked it and hope to see you around. 🙂
Choc-chip mint ice cream is one of Summer’s favorite things for me. Your recipe sounds like the real deal, Richard, and I can’t wait for the weather to change so that I can break out the ice crem maker. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, John. I’m glad you like it and hope you give it a try. I love the natural color of the mint in addition to the wonderful flavors. I don’t know about Chitown but summer is definitely one its way in DFW.
Delicious is all I can say! Mint ice cream has always been a favorite! Thanks for the step-by-step process!
Hi, Laila. Thanks for your very nice compliment. 🙂
Oh yum. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream! 🙂
Hi, Virginia. I’m very glad you like it. This is a wonderful recipe and is ALL natural. 🙂
Wow. I don’t actually know how many more awesome words you can put in the title of this blog…
Hi, Dan & H-J. Thanks, for the nice compliment. We’re glad you like it. Saw the fun street art in K-L. It looks like you guys are still having fun.