If you're like me, there are times when you have eggs and milk filling up the counters and fridge and when life hands you milk...make ice cream? The entire family will love this one, and you'll be thrilled with the ingredient list.
My oldest child, Mac, is really into making ice cream. He makes it as frequently as he wants, because of a few things:
1 - He milks the cow every day. Allowing him to make things with the milk and us not ‘control’ it all, gives him a sense of ownership and pride in his chores.
2 - We have a LOT of cream. If we didn’t...and I needed to make butter...he would probably need to slow down a bit.
3 - He is really good at it!
He developed this recipe, based on Elaine's Raw Milk Ice Cream and he is onto some things with his method! I love his ingenuity and time-saving tips.
Why You Need This Recipe
- No funky ingredients from store-bought ice cream.
- NO FOOD DYE!
- Use up eggs and milk, which may be in abundance if you have livestock like we do.
- Adjust to your liking - dark or milk chocolate, use what ya got!
- No cooking so no risk of scrambled egg in your ice cream.
- Easy enough that kids can make it themselves.
Key Ingredients
Milk - You can use raw milk that hasn't been stirred, so that you get most of the cream off the top. We're looking for a high-fat content here in our bowl. Or 50/50 heavy cream/whole milk.
Sugar - It's not ice cream without sugar!
Peppermint extract - I love to buy a nice big bottle since we use it so much. Look for one that is just alcohol and mint with water. No need for anything else.
Chocolate - Wouldn't be "mint chip" without it! Check the recipe card notes for how to prep your chocolate ahead of time- its the only part thats not mix and go.
How to Make Mint Chip Ice Cream
Step 1
In a big glass measuring cup, gently pour in 4 cups from your gallon jar of milk – aiming to get mostly cream! In a small bowl, beat egg yolks. Add to the milk.
Step 2
Whisk in sugar, salt, and peppermint extract until sugar is dissolved, about 15 seconds.
Step 3
Immediately pour into your ice cream maker and churn to your ice cream maker’s specifications.
Step 4
Chop your frozen chocolate in a food processor or with a knife, and follow your machine's instructions on when to add that in. (we do it once the ice cream is fairly thick but still a few minutes away from ready.
When it’s done, immediately enjoy, or scoop into freezer safe containers and freeze until ready.
Tips and Tricks
Mac came up with these on his own and they are really good!!
- Go heavier on the cream than milk, even though Mom says to do equal parts. This makes the end result creamier.
- Blend/chop your chocolate chips in a food processor (or with a knife) to make smaller, more edible pieces. Big chunks of chocolate don’t actually work out well in ice cream.
- Freeze your chocolate before blending/chopping AND prep more than you need (he does a quart container) and store in the freezer so that your next batches of mint chip ice cream are faster and use fewer dishes.
- Egg yolks are optional, but do make it creamier.
- Skip the food dye many people add to make mint chip green; food dye is for playdoh, not your food.
Substitutions
Not a fan of mint? Feel free to use vanilla extract instead for plain chocolate chip ice cream.
If you don't have a milk cow, then store-bought whole milk and heavy cream work just fine.
Love coffee ice cream? It's the same base as this one but I've written out the instructions for you to make it easy.
FAQs
It's a treat and I love homemade treats vs ones from the store. If you have to work for it, then you naturally make and consume it less often. But the sugar here is what keeps the ice cream creamier by avoiding too many ice crystals forming.
If you want to use honey or maple syrup, you can definitely use about ⅓ cup instead, but I only recommend that if you are going to be using up the entire batch right away and not storing any leftovers. The honey will need to be gently heated first in order to incorporate fully, then you will need to chill the base before you can churn it, unless you have an ice cream maker with a condenser like mine. I've not tried monk fruit or stevia and don't think they have the bulk necessary.
I like to use quart plastic yogurt containers or something similar. You can use glass, but keep in mind the ice cream freezes pretty hard so you'll want to make sure you aren't going to hit your scoop into the side of the glass dish and potentially crack it.
We are looking for a high fat content, so if you are skilled at pouring your fresh raw milk without disturbing the cream, go for it. So 4 cups of raw milk with most of the cream OR you can use two cups of heavy cream and 2 cups whole milk.
If you're looking to avoid refined sugars, or if you don't yet have an ice cream maker, give my 7-Minute Soft Serve a try. It only needs a blender or food processor and is sweetened with strawberries and a touch of maple syrup.
Mac's Mint Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream see notes
- 2 cups whole milk see notes
- 4 egg yolks optional
- ¾ cups sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- ¾ cup chocolate chips see notes
Instructions
- In a big glass measuring cup, gently pour in 4 cups of cream/milk (without stirring it first). This gives you mostly cream with some milk as well.
- In a small bowl, beat egg yolks if using. Add to the milk.
- Whisk in sugar, salt, and mint extract until sugar is dissolved, about 15 seconds.
- Immediately pour into your ice cream maker (my “freezer bowl” lives in the freezer awaiting ice cream making!) If for some reason you are side tracked and your cream/milk mixture OR your freezer bowl sits out for more than 15 minutes, re-chill them before proceeding or you’ll have runny ice cream.
- Churn to your ice cream maker's specifications- mine is 30 minutes. Follow the manual for when to add in your chocolate.
- When it's done, immediately enjoy, or scoop into freezer safe containers and freeze until ready.
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