Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Mint chocolate chip ice cream is a beloved classic and making it yourself takes to a whole new level!
Now that summer is undoubtedly well underway, the drum for my ice cream maker permanently resides in the freezer. That way it’s ready to go whenever my craving for homemade ice cream hits, which is pretty much daily.
This summer I’m hoping to go through my ice cream archives and revisit some old favorites, many of which I’ve largely forgotten about. I’ve started with mint chocolate chip, which in my opinion is the greatest ice cream flavor of all time. If I had to pick just one flavor of ice cream to eat for the rest of my life, it would be this.
It’s simple, nostalgic, and refreshing.
It’s smooth and creamy with a little crunch from the chocolate.
It’s ice cream at its best!
This ice cream starts the traditional way, with a custard base made from milk, cream, sugar and eggs. Only, I’ve infused the cream with fresh mint from my garden for a fresh mint flavor you won’t find in a store-bought pint. If you don’t happen to have mint growing in your backyard you should be able to buy a bundle from the supermarket for a few bucks or less, or of course you can just use mint extract.
For this particular batch of ice cream, instead of adding chopped chocolate into the ice cream maker, I melted the chocolate and slowly drizzled it into the ice cream as it churned. So instead of big chunks, there’s thin strips of chocolate throughout. I loved it, but I’ve included instructions for both methods below so you can do what you like.
Either way, mint chocolate chip ice cream is a classic for a reason! And homemade just makes it so much better. Churn up a batch today!
baking tip:Choosing an ice cream machine
If you don’t already own and ice cream machine but have wanted one, now is the perfect time to buy to enjoy homemade ice cream all summer long. Even if you don’t consider yourself an expert in the kitchen, ice cream is an easy treat anyone can master.
I love my Cuisinart machine, which is a lot of bang for your buck. You can also get a more expensive model or even an ice cream attachment for your stand mixer. Not ready to make a purchase? See my tips on making ice cream without a machine.
Recipe originally published June 2010.
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (500 ml)
- 1 small bunch fresh mint
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk (375 ml)
- 3/4 cup sugar (150 grams)
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon mint extract , optional
- Green food coloring , optional
- 3 oz bittersweet chocolate (85 grams), chopped or use chips
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Warm the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming. Do not boil. Remove from heat, add mint, and cover. Let sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours. If desired, you can chill in the fridge overnight.
- Strain to remove mint.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and set aside.
- Combine the whole milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Heat until steaming, do not boil.
- Slowly add the milk mixture to egg yolks in a small steady stream, while whisking constantly. Once the mixture is completely combined, return it to the saucepan and place over medium heat.
- Cook mixture until thickened, stirring constantly. You want the mixture to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and pass through a strainer to catch any bits of cooked egg. Stir in heavy cream, mint extract and food coloring, if using. Cover and chill completely in the fridge, at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
- Freeze ice cream in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.
- In a heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate and oil in 1 minute intervals until smooth (see Notes).
- During the last 5 minutes of churning, use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate into the ice cream machine. It should harden immediately.
- Transfer the ice cream to a bowl or ice cream cream container and freeze for an additional 1-2 hours to harden.
Notes
- If desired, omit the bunch of mint, skip steps 1 and 2, and increase mint extract to 1 1/2 teaspoons.
- If desired, skip step 9 and instead add chopped chocolate directly to ice cream during last 5 minutes of churning.
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Oh, my! You had me with your title. I am salivating now. This is my absolute favorite ice cream flavor. I have a kitchen aid ice cream maker attachment, but I've never successfully made ice cream. Maybe your instructions will be magic for me!
I love my ice cream maker! I've already used mine a few times in the past couple. I try to stay away from the custard based recipes though, because of the cholesterol. My personal favorite flavor is pistachio, although i haven't made it in my ice cream maker yet!
Question…can you use the chocolate mint plant to flavor the ice cream? For 2 years now I have been thinking about this question and was going to buy a chocolate mint plant to try it this year. Seeing how you are the professional, what are your thoughts?
Jen,
Yes, you can absolutely use mint or chocolate-mint to flavor the ice cream. We have an abundance of mint in the backyard and I considered using it. But I decided that most people don't, and so I made it with extract this time, but plan to play around with the herb in the future.
How I would do it, is I would add maybe 2 packed cups of mint to the cream, milk, and sugar. Heat it to just before it boils, remove from heat, cover and let it sit for about an hour. Then remove the leaves, reheat the mixture and proceed with the recipe.
If you try it, be sure to let me know how it goes!
luscious and mouth-watering work. 🙂
I don't own an ice cream machine, but I think this has just about convinced me that I need one! This looks just lovely, Annalise!
Yummy! My husband's favorite flavor and I'd love too! You have to try my mint chocolate ganache whoopie pies at StyleNectar. You'll love -so easy and divine! Love your blog doll!
xoxo
Juliane of http://www.StyleNectar.com
Yes you can use fresh mint lesves it is actually better, , just add the leaves and maybe blend it this will also add natural colour to the ice cream.
This looks so good! My kids favorite!
I selected this receipe because it stated it makes 4 quarts of ice cream. Very disappointed when it only made 1 quart.
Good idea, freshness and cool fit each other.
https://hairtoolexpert.com
Does the vegetable or coconut oil I think is better keep it from getting hard or should I add liquor?
This was absolutely amazing!!! I just made it today-my family loved it! Thank you so much for sharing! I did not have mint extract so I used peppermint essential oil-3 drops for the ice cream and 2 drops for the chocolate. The chocolate tasted just like bluebell’s. Wonderful. 5 star rating. 😉