One of the best parts about summer is that Andrew and I have the time to hang out and be creative in the kitchen. Between the bounty of fresh veggies from our CSA and home garden and the time we have to look up recipes and try new things out, we eat pretty well from June to September. And so, in honor of our glorious summer vacation, I present you with our kick-butt, newly invented recipe of mint chocolate chip ice cream. If you don't have an ice cream machine, run - don't walk - to your nearest kitchen supply store and GET ONE. This is worth it.
Drum roll, please.................
Andrew and Kristina's Minty Fresh Chocolate Chip Ice Cream:
Besides a handy ice cream machine, you will need:
2 C whipping cream
2 C half and half
1 C sugar
8 to 10 longish sprigs of mint (I picked these from my garden so I wasn't really counting - just get a bunch, I don't think you can over-mint this ice cream). Leave the leaves and all on the stems.
2/3 C (or so) of chopped up really good dark chocolate. Do not offend me by using crap chocolate, this is a serious recipe here, folks.
On low heat in a saucepan, heat the whipping cream, half and half, and sugar until sugar dissolves. Continue heating slowly until the milk gets fairly warm. You are not aiming to boil the milk, but just get it hot enough so that when you put the mint in, it'll really help get the flavor out. Take the milk off the heat, dunk the mint in, cover and let cool in the fridge for a while (we forgot about it overnight).
When cool, remove the mint stems and squeegee the milk off of them. We meant to add a teaspoon or so of vanilla at this point but forgot...we'll give it a try next time.
Freeze according to the directions on your ice cream machine
At the end of freezing, stir in the chocolate chips, then put ice cream in freezer to harden up. Enjoy!
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