Fresh mint ice cream with chocolate sauce

A great use for a popular garden herb!

If you have mint in your garden, as I do, you likely have a lot of it, given how much it loves to spread, so harvesting it to make this delicious dessert will likely be easy. Making and chilling the custard base is the most time-consuming part of the process for making top-quality ice cream, but you can prepare it up to 3 days before churning, if desired. Reserve the egg whites for another use, such as these cute mini-meringues. I prefer to drizzle my mint ice cream with a little chocolate sauce rather than mixing chocolate chips or chunks directly into the ice cream, to accommodate those who don’t prefer chocolate. If you know, however, that you’ll be serving chocolate fans, you can drizzle the chocolate sauce into the churned ice cream before transferring it to a container, for a nice rippled effect. If you enjoy this dessert, be sure to use the search feature on this site for several other delicious ice cream recipes. 

Ingredients

Ice cream:

• 1 cup (250 mL) milk
• 2 cups (500 mL) whipping (35%) cream
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (60 g) mint leaves, coarsely chopped
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

Chocolate sauce:

• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (35 g) cocoa powder
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

• To make the custard base for the ice cream, start by infusing the milk and cream with the mint. In a medium-sized saucepan placed over medium-low heat, combine the milk and cream and let warm, stirring often, until just about steaming (don’t let it boil). Remove from heat and stir in the mint leaves. Place a lid on the pot and let cool to room temperature, then transfer to an non-reactive container (I use a large glass food storage container) and place in the fridge for 4-12 hours.
• When ready to cook the custard, strain the infused milk and cream mixture through a fine-meshed sieve or several layers of cheesecloth, pressing down on the mint to extract as much liquid as possible.
• Place the milk-cream mixture in a medium-sized saucepan and reheat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. While milk and cream mixture is heating, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
• When the infused milk and cream mixture is hot (about 140F-150F), use it to temper (gently warm) the egg yolk mixture. Whisking the egg yolks with one hand, slowly pour in about 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the hot infused milk and cream. Repeat two more times (for a total of about 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) of milk/cream being added to the eggs, whisking continuously as you do so. Return the tempered egg and milk/cream mixture to the pot and whisk to blend well.
• Cook the mixture slowly, whisking often, until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 160F. Strain into a bowl or glass food storage container and place in the fridge to cool completely. Once the mixture has cooled, taste and add just a little mint extract to enhance the leaves’ subtle natural flavour without overwhelming it.
• Once chilled, churn the custard according to your ice cream maker’s directions.
• To make chocolate sauce, combine sugar, cocoa powder and salt in small saucepan. Stir in heavy cream so mixture forms a thick paste.
• Place over medium heat and bring to a boil; let cook 5 minutes, whisking almost constantly.
• Remove from heat and whisk in butter until melted then whisk in vanilla. Transfer to a glass jar for serving and storage.
• Store sauce in glass jar in fridge for up to two weeks or freeze for longer storage. Reheat in the jar, in the microwave on medium-low heat or by placing the jar in a pan of hot water.
• Serve scooped ice cream in bowls or cones, with chocolate sauce drizzled over top.

Serves 8-10.