Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Mint chocolate chip ice cream has been one of my favorite flavors since I was a child. With my mint plants growing in full force right now, I figured what better than to use fresh mint in my next ice cream recipe. This recipe is on par with the coffee ice cream I made in terms of its time commitment, but it is not difficult. Just follow the directions.

Ingredients:
3 cups fresh mint leaves (no stems), rinsed, drained, and packed
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks
6oz chocolate chips

Combine mint leaves, milk, and 1 cup of the cream in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Allow to warm until just steaming (do not boil!), remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes. Repeat and let steep 15 more minutes.


While mint is infusing, prepare remaining heavy cream over ice bath. Pour 1 cup cream into medium bowl placed over separate bowl with lots of ice in it. Place mesh strainer on top of bowls and set aside.


Once milk/cream mixture has steeped for its total 45 minutes, strain through mesh sieve into a new bowl, pressing on leaves with spatula to get the most liquid from them. Discard mint leaves. Return mixture to sauce pan adding sugar and salt. Heat until just steaming again, allowing sugar to dissolve. Remove from heat.

Whisk the egg yolks in medium bowl. Slowly pour milk/cream mixture into egg yolks, whisking constantly to warm eggs without cooking them. Scrape warm egg mixture back into saucepan.


Return sauce pan to medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon. This can take 10 minutes.


Finally, pour custard through strainer over the cream ice bath to stop the cooking.

Chill mixture at least 4 hours in refrigerator and then freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Once the ice cream is formed, add the chocolate chips and freeze over night to harden.

I cannot tell you how excited I was about this ice cream. It sounded good and smelled delicious...and then I tasted it. In hindsight I realized that I had actually used spearmint as opposed to peppermint leaves. It definitely creates a different flavor. I wouldn't say that it's bad, just a little strange. I took the ice cream to work and people like it, so I think it is personal opinion.

I know one thing, though. I will be purchasing a peppermint plant and trying this recipe again.

Makes 1 quart
*this ice cream is a white mint chip unless you add a drop or so of food coloring to make it green

Pumpkin Bread

Quick breads are easily one of my favorite things to bake. They can be breakfast and dessert all at once and are so quick to throw together, considering I almost always have all the main ingredients on hand at all times. Today is Halloween and I've been cooking up a storm, including a moist and tasty pumpkin bread inspired by closet kitchen.

Here's what I used:

1 and 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 and 1/2 cups pumpkin purée
3/4 brown sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup chocolate chips


1. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.


2. In another bowl mix the pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, oil, and yogurt.



3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together, then stir in chocolate chips.



4. Poor in greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.


Now...I really should have added chopped toasted pecans to this bread. Two separate co-workers have given me a bag of pecans from their yards, but unfortunately I wasn't able to crack or toast any in time for the making of this bread.


Mmm! Pumpkin bread and coffee for breakfast this week. Next week I'd really like to try this new apple and cinnamon oatmeal bread recipe from the same blog.