Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream

It was time to harvest my herbs, and I didn't want to dry my mint.  It's just so much better fresh.  So I decided to make ice cream as a nice treat.  I found this recipe online at TheBestMintChipIceCream.  Six egg yolks seemed like a lot, but egg whites keep well so I saved those for another recipe.   Although it took a lot of time to make, this ice cream was worth it.  The fresh mint flavor really pops and tastes much different than mint extract.  And I liked the chocolate bits--of course!  No seriously, the chocolate bits are good-they are somewhat soft in the ice cream, not overly hard.  Two thumbs up.  

Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream

Recipe adapted slightly from Online Source

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk (I used skim milk and it worked just fine)

1 large bunch fresh mint leaves (I used ~2 heaping cups/fistfuls of leaves)

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 ounces dark chocolate (I used semisweet baking squares)

2 teaspoons vegetable or canola oil

Directions:

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring cream and milk to a simmer.   Remove from the heat, stir in the mint leaves, cover, and let steep for 2 hours.

In another heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined.  Quickly strain the mint-infused milk/cream into the pot with the eggs.  Really press hard on the mint leaves in the strainer to extract as much flavor as possible.  Discard the leaves.  Whisk the mixture and set over medium heat, whisking frequently, until a coating forms on a spoon and a finger swiped across the back of the spoon leaves a clean line (custard temperature reaches 170ºF).  Add salt to taste.

Pour custard through a fine mesh strainer into an airtight container and chill in an ice bath (4 hours) or in the fridge overnight until temperature drops to 40ºF.

Pour cold mixture into an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.   While it churns, melt chocolate in the microwave and stir to combine with oil.  At the end of the churning, drizzle chocolate into the ice cream to form thin lines of chocolate which will break into small chips.   Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.