This month’s Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream challenge theme is chocolate. Instead of making a straight chocolate ice cream, I decided on mint choc chip as it’s a flavour I love but have never made before.
Of course, it couldn’t be just any mint choc chip, oh no!
I envisaged a triple mint affair using fresh chopped mint leaves, crème de menthe liqueur and after eight mints. In the end, I couldn’t find any crème de menthe on sale locally, so I made my own substitute, though if you have a bottle lurking in the cupboard, I’m sure it would work nicely.
I’m absolutely delighted with how this came out, as I made it up completely. Not only did the crisp flavour of the peppermint flavouring (in my crème de menthe substitute) come through, so too did the lovely herby flavour of the fresh mint. An unexpected bonus was the slightly chewy texture the chopped after eight mints took on once frozen – and of course, the casing gave that delicious dark chocolate hit that so perfectly balances with mint, while the filling gave a third element of mint!
Quick & Easy Triple Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream
Ingredients
500 ml pot of fresh ready made custard (or fresh if you prefer)
Generous bunch of mint
12 after eight mints
50-60 ml crème de menthe or home made substitute, see below
Note: for a non alcoholic version, skip the crème de menthe and add half a teaspoon of peppermint flavouring plus a few drops of green food colouring, if you like.
Method
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Pick the mint leaves from the stems; wash and finely chop the leaves.
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Chop the after eight mints into small pieces.
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Mix the custard, crème de menthe and fresh mint together and pour into the ice cream machine. Add the after eight mints straight away.
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Churn until the ice cream is reasonably solid.
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Serve immediately or transfer into the freezer to solidify further.
Home Made Crème De Menthe Substitute
Ingredients
30 ml caster sugar
45 ml gin or vodka
Few drops green colouring
1/2 teaspoon peppermint flavouring
Method
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Combine ingredients. Heat in microwave for 30-60 seconds, to help sugar dissolve into alcohol. Set aside to cool.
Enjoy!
Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!19 Comments to "Quick & Easy Triple Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream"
Yum!! Love mint choc chip ice cream but adding booze & after 8s is totally inspired 🙂 great challenge this month!
I try and booze to every ice cream I make these days as it’s my favourite way of keeping the ice cream reasonably soft scoop in the freezer! 🙂
Inspired idea to add all those different types of mint!
Thanks, in for a penny and all that…
We happened upon a single container of Häagen Dazs Mint Chip ice cream in our grocer’s freezer a couple weeks ago and my Swede went nuts for it. Sadly, we haven’t seen that flavour since. Between that episode and this post, it seems the Gods are telling me I simple *MUST* get an ice-cream maker. ;^)
Oh you really must. Home made is so good because you can adjust it so it’s just how you want it. Extra choc chips? No problem. Slightly more mint? Sure thing!
Mmm mint chip! And booze! gorgeous.
🙂
This is the kind of thing that makes me sad that I don’t like mint…
Oh I am sad for you too. But I don’t like rhubarb and I know you’ll be sad about that!
I love this – the triple mint hit and the fact you made your own DIY creme de menthe!
Heh, I just couldn’t find any locally!
Amazon for exotic alcoholic additives!
I had a thought myself not so long ago about this very same idea so obviously I think it is genius! After eights must make a perfect minty ice cream and you have put my mind to rest because I was worried that the pieces would turn to mud. They don’t which is great news!
I have semi written my ice cream post and hope to get it finished this week :-0
Great minds!
A CLASSIC and FAB combination, thanks so much for entering this into Herbs on Saturday too……I adore mint in sweet and savoury dishes and it doesn’t get better than this in an ice cream!
Thanks Karen, so happy with this one!
What a fantastic idea- had never even occurred to me to use a ready made custard for ice cream! I will definitely be making this when the weather is nice and sunny again (hopefully sometime this year!). Ixx
Really like your use of fresh mint in this and now you’ve got me thinking about making a mint liqueur. I might just try making a mint vodka infusion as in sloe gin – would be great if it worked.