As promised, here is probably one of the best ice creams I have ever had, who would have thought fresh mint ice cream could be so good.

For Sean’s birthday I thought I would attempt to make mint chocolate ice cream, but instead of just plain ice cream I would put it into an oreo crust and make a pie.

In browsing around recipes it seems like most people steep the mint leaves in the warm half and half before finishing up the custard so I thought that sounded like a plan.

I had some pretty lofty goals though because I was making his birthday dinner on a week night.  I knew that I needed to do as much as I could before I went to work since I wasn’t even going to get home until 5;30 or so.  Also the ice cream has to chill for 6-8 hours before going in the ice cream maker.

Flash forward to me standing over the stove at 6:00am cursing the half and half for not heating up.  I failed to realized that the mint should steep for a few hours to really get enough of the minty taste.  As I am running out of time I resign to the fact that I am going to have to take an early lunch break to come home and finish the custard so that it can cool until I get home from work.

You can image my boss that morning when I email her to see if I can take my lunch break at 10 so I can finish making ice cream.  She couldn’t stop laughing.  Most people aren’t trying to make ice cream at 6:00 in the morning.

It was well worth all the trouble to make this ice cream, it is by far one of my favorite home made ice creams.  It taste creamy but not too heavy and so fresh.  I now have requests from my mother in law for this ice cream on her next birthday, she hasn’t even tasted it and she knows it is amazing.

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Pie

About 2 cups fresh mint leaves

4 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 egg yolks

4 ounces dark chocolate

Tear mint leaves off the stems and put into a large bowl.  Using a pestle, pound the leaves until they are a little bruised.

Heat half in half, sugar and pinch of salt on the stove over medium heat until steaming and bubbling, making sure not to boil.

Once the half and half is heated remove from the heat and add the mint leaves and cover.  Now let them steep for 2-3 hours, the longer the better to really get the minty taste.

After 3 hours strain the mint leaves and put the half and half back on the stove.  As the half and half is heating up take your egg yolks and whisk them in a bowl.  Add a cup or so of the heated half and half and whisk until combined.  This will keep the egg from cooking in the half and half.  Add the egg mixture to the half and half and combine.

Heat the mixture until steaming and bubbling around the edges making sure to stir constantly, custard is done when it coats the back of the spoon.

Remove from the heat, add vanilla and let cool in the fridge until ready to use in your ice cream maker.  Add the chocolate chunks half way through the time in the ice cream maker.

Tags: chocolate, dessert, Ice Cream, mint

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 11:27 am and is filed under Ice Cream. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.