AMAZING MINT CHIP ICE CREAM

Don't we all dream of lounging around in our pjs eating ice cream on a weekday? Well, my boy Otis had Spring Break last week, and that is just what he did.

Otis can groove with some serious savory cooking and he is a master when it comes to chopping veg, but he also swoons for making sweets. Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream seemed like a good way for us to celebrate the Easter Break, the green explosion of spring, and our bountiful backyard mint patch.

Otis says this is the best ice cream he has ever tasted (and we all know that 11-year-olds are ice cream experts!)  I personally think the whole recipe is quite dangerous. I found myself wanting to slurp the minty custard before I even froze the stuff - need I say more?

INGREDIENTS thanks to David Lebovitz

(printable recipe)

• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 packed cups fresh mint leaves
• 5 egg yokes
• 5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped and melted

Warm milk, 1 cup of cream, sugar, and salt in a medium sauce pan, over medium heat. Stir to melt sugar. When sugar has dissolved, add mint leaves to the pan. When everything is hot and steamy, remove the pan from the heat. Cover, and let the mint leaves steep in the warm milk for an hour.

After an hour of steeping, pour the minty milk mixture through a strainer into a medium mixing bowl. Using the back of a wooden spoon, press down on the mint in the strainer to release as much flavor as you can, then toss out the mint leaves and wash your strainer. Return infused milk to the medium sauce pan and rewarm over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

(Pour the remaining cup of cream into a large mixing bowl. Place strainer over the top of the bowl, and set aside.)

Whisk egg yokes in a separate, smallish bowl. Pour a ladle or two of the warm infused milk into the yokes and whisk to integrate. Then pour all of the yokes into the sauce pan with the warmed minty milk. Stir continuously with a spatula and cook custard, over medium heat, until it begins to thicken. (Lebovitz says the mixture is done when it reaches 170 degrees, or is thick enough to coat the spatula.)

Pour custard through the strainer into the large mixing bowl holding the cream. Stir. Place mixing bowl over an ice bath and continue stirring until the custard has cooled. Transfer to a covered container. Refrigerate for two hours, or even overnight, then freeze in your ice cream maker, following the manufacturers instructions.

While your ice cream maker is working its magic, put a storage container into the freezer to chill.

When your ice cream machine is done, pull the chilled storage container from the freezer and drizzle some melted chocolate across the bottom. Then add some ice cream to the container. Then drizzle more chocolate over the ice cream. Use a spoon to break up the mixture and you will have nice broken streaks of chocolate (homemade chocolate chips!) running throughout the ice cream. Continue adding layers of ice cream and drizzled chocolate. Place your now marbleized ice cream into the freezer to firm up again before serving.

Enjoy!

My talented friend and fellow blogger, Phyllis Grant of Dash and Bella, recently posted a recipe for Mint Stracciatella Ice Cream. If you don't already follow her blog already, you should - everything she does is delish and I imagine her ice cream is no exception!