I love a good minty, refreshing dessert. It's perfect after a big meal. Try making dye-free Christmas Candy Cane Ice Cream with the family today!
Have you looked at ice cream at the store? In general, it's made with added oils, gums, and other highly-processed ingredients. There's truly no need for it, because ice cream is eggs and cream! Whether or not you have milk and eggs in your backyard, you can easily make dye-free mint ice cream from real food ingredients.
Mint isn't only for Christmas. Mac perfected our Mint Chip Ice Cream which we enjoy year round! If you love holiday flavours, don't forget to make a batch of Egg Nog Ice Cream. Not yet ready to invest in an ice cream maker? No worries! No-Cook No-Churn Ice Cream is just as good.
Key Ingredients
Eggs - Farm fresh or pasteurized eggs that you know where they are from and feel safe consuming raw.
Milk & Cream - Either use your backyard cow and keep as much cream in the milk as possible, or use whole milk and heavy cream from the store.
Sugar - Granulated sugar is truly what makes the best texture.
Candy - Look for dye-free candy canes and pick up some chocolate chips, too.
Spirulina - This powdered supplement is fairly easy to find if you shop at bulk stores or health food shops.
How to Make Peppermint Ice Cream
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Whisk eggs well in a bowl until thickened.
Step 2: Add in sugar, extract, and spirulina.
Step 3: Whisk well to dissolve sugar.
Step 4: Pour in half the milk and whisk well.
Step 5: Crush candy canes with a meat mallet.
Step 6: Set aside candy and chocolate for later.
Step 7: Add base and remaining milk to ice cream maker.
Step 8: When there are just about 5 minutes left in churning, add chocolate chips.
Step 9: Stir in candy canes last and turn off machine.
Step 10: Serve immediately as soft serve!
Tips and Tricks
- Smaller chocolate is better if freezing for later.
- I like to whisk in half the milk by hand but the remaining inside the machine, it's less messy that way.
- Let the kids take turns whisking!
FAQs
This is a blue green algae that has been dehydrated and ground up. It is said to have a salty, sea-type flavour but that's if you're consuming it as a main "greens" supplement. We are using just a tablespoon in an entire batch of ice cream, so I promise you won't taste it at all here!
These are thankfully becoming easier to find, especially if you are in more suburban type areas, or are already shopping at bulk or health food shops. Yum Earth is a pretty big brand that's fairly easy to find. You'll often see store brand organic options that are also dye-free.
I love the pairing of mint and chocolate. You can choose any type of chocolate chips here, from white to dark. Regular size chocolate chips are fine if you are serving this immediately as soft serve. I prefer to use mini chips or chop up a bar of chocolate quite finely if I am freezing for later. Otherwise the chocolate is just too hard to be an enjoyable experience.
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
More Ice Cream Recipes
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Christmas Candy Cane Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 farm fresh whole eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon spirulina
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup crushed candy canes
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Whisk fresh eggs in a large bowl for a few minutes until frothy.
- Add mint extract, sugar and spirulina, whisking well until mix is a uniform green colour.
- Add half the cream slowly and continue to whisk well until frothy again.
- Add mix to your ice cream maker container using a spatula to get all the ingredients in and then add rest of cream into ice cream maker bowl. Place in ice cream maker. (I find this way is less messy then adding all the cream at once and hand whisking it.)
- Turn on machine and let it work its magic. In the meantime, crush candy canes on a cutting board and set aside.
- Do not incorporate chocolate chips or candycane pieces until the last 5 minutes, when ice cream is nearly finished so the mixing action doesn’t “melt” them. At this point, add the chocolate chips slowly, then the candy cane pieces.
- When finished, ice cream may be eaten immediately as soft serve or transferred to freezer for hardening and later consumption. Remember if freezing to allow it to melt a bit again before serving both for ease of scooping but also for flavour explosion!
Notes
- Add another crumbling of crushed candy canes on each serving if desired.
- This recipe fits a 1.5 quart ice cream maker; increase everything by a little bit for a 2 quart machine.
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