This mint chocolate chip ice cream is 100% all natural. No artificial colors or flavors. Just heavy cream, whole milk, pure maple syrup, fresh mint, and dark chocolate. Kids will love it as much as you will.
What constitutes the perfect mint chocolate chunk ice cream? It’s sorta tricky as the answer tends to be a very personal thing. Those who recall this summer treat from childhood tend to have expectations of shades of lurid green with the smack of fake mint extract. Those of us who came to the charms of mint chocolate chunk ice cream as adults often prefer it made with a handful of natural ingredients minus artificial colorings or flavorings. For those of you who, like us, lean toward the second sort, this recipe is exactly that. It’s the best mint chocolate chunk ice cream we’ve ever had, actually, so much so that we suspect it’ll satisfy everyone, no matter their preconceived notions of what this ice cream ought to be. But don’t take our word for it. Go ahead. See for yourself. Originally published May 14, 2017.–Renee Schettler Rossi
Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
Special Equipment: Ice cream maker
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 cups packed fresh mint leaves
- 4 ounces dark chocolate or mint-flavored dark chocolate
Directions
- Steep the ice cream base
- 1. Pour the cream, milk, and maple syrup into a medium saucepan. Add the mint leaves, stir, and warm slowly over low heat until the mixture begins to steam, 8 to 11 minutes. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let steep at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
- 2. Then transfer the pan to the fridge until the mixture is completely chilled, 2 to 3 hours. (If you can remain patient, for even more magnificent results, let the mixture chill in the fridge overnight before straining it.)
- Churn the ice cream
- 3. Strain the mint leaves from the cream mixture and use your hands to wring the leaves carefully over the pot to release any extra cream and mint essence. Transfer the strained mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- 4. While the ice cream is churning, reach for either a sharp knife or a rolling pin and roughly chop or smash the chocolate bar into a mix of thick chunks and thin slivers (trust us, the rolling pin approach is incredibly inexpensive therapy). When the ice cream is almost done processing, stir in the chocolate.
- Freeze the ice cream before serving
- 5. Scoop the ice cream into a container with a lid and freeze for another hour or so before serving. The ice cream will be a lumpy, soft serve consistency straight out of the ice cream maker and will firm up to a more hard, scoopable consistency after freezing. You should have about 1 quart (900 ml).
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Jenny Latreille
Mint chocolate chunk ice cream is one of my favorites, especially when made with fresh mint and no artificial colors or flavors. This recipe is so simple and so good—creamy, thick, minty, and not too sweet. Often when I make ice cream, I add a tablespoon of alcohol (vodka or a complementary liquor) because I’ve heard it helps reduce iciness. I'm not sure how much it works; I didn't add any to this recipe and it wasn't any icier than my other recipes. The addition of maple syrup put me off at first (I might be the only Canadian who dislikes it). But I can barely taste it in the finished product. I used 6 ounces dark chocolate because it seemed crazy to leave out those last 2 ounces. I think the basic ice cream recipe here would also lend itself to many other flavorings for easy non-custard ice cream versions.