Fresh Mint Ice Cream for National Ice Cream Day

It’s not too often I crave something specific, usually it just needs to be sweet, or chocolate, or any kind of ice cream, but for days I just couldn’t get the taste of velvety and refreshing mint out of my head. I wanted to make this mint ice cream as fresh as possible, without the use of extracts, which meant for lots of fresh mint. I can easily say I probably used a good fifty to sixty mint leaves, and with so much growing in every corner of the garden, ice cream was of course the only thing I would’ve done with it, especially it being National Ice Cream Day today and July being the month dedicated to my favorite food.I used spearmint, peppermint, and lemon mint to create a heavenly mint flavor that wasn’t over-powering, like most mint ice creams. This one has a smooth flavor, a sweet earthiness, that honestly would’ve gone without the dark chocolate chips, although I still added in for good measure. It’s a subtle mint flavor, which I enjoyed. Perhaps I’ll add one hundred mint leaves next time, but what I know is that peppermint extract won’t be making its way into my icy delight.
Fresh mint creates a more refined and delicate herbal ice cream, the kind that make you utterly happy and blissful eating a bowl, or maybe even two bowlfuls. Topped with fresh mint, or scooped atop a warm slice of this galette, you just can’t get a more refreshing indulgence on a hot summer day. 

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

Ingredients {Makes 1 Quart}

2 cups – Heavy Cream

1 cup – 2% Milk

1/2 cup – Granulated Sugar

1/4 teaspoon – Salt

5 large – Egg Yolks

About 50 Mint Leaves

3/4 cup – Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

If you prefer, a more intense flavor use 1 teaspoon Organic Peppermint Extract into the base just before freezing

Recipe

To infuse the milk and cream, stir the cream, milk, half of the sugar {1/4 cup} and salt into a saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat. When the cream mixture begins to bubble around the edge, stir in mint. When bubbles resume around the edges, remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Taste the base every so often, to test the intensity of the mint flavor.

Make the base by, whisking the yolks, just to break them up, in a medium heat-proof bowl. Add in the remaining sugar and whisk until smooth, set aside. Uncover pan, heat over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium heat, once the mixture hits a slight simmer. Slowly ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot mixture into the yolk mixture, while whisking. Add one more ladle of the hot mixture into the yolks, making sure to whisk quickly, so you don’t curdle the eggs. With a wooden spoon, stir the cream mixture as you slowly add in the egg-cream mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook the ice cream base over medium heat, stirring constantly until it has thickened, and creates a clear path on the back of the wooden spoon {about 1 to 2 minutes}. Strain the base through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container, over an ice-water bath, and discard the mint. Using a clean spatula, stir the base frequently until it has cooled to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Freeze the ice cream, in your ice cream machine following your manufacturer’s directions {about 30 minutes}. While the ice cream churns, put the container you’ll keep your ice cream in the freezer, as well as the chocolate chips in a separate bowl. The ice cream is ready once it reaches the consistency of soft-serve, or the paddle creates a distinctive path as it churns. Fold in the chocolate chips. Enjoy right away, or place in your container, and freeze until later.