Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

My mom has still been sending us belated Christmas gifts and one of our last packages arrived this past Friday. We knew it was heavy and we had no idea what was in there. So much to our surprise, when we opened the package and unwrapped the box, we discovered she had sent us an ice cream maker! An ice cream maker. What an absurdly unnecessary novelty kitchen item. But how fun! Of course if you get an ice cream maker, you have to start trying recipes immediately, if not sooner. She also included a homemade ice cream book to help us jump start our newest DIY kitchen item, so we went for one of the simplest yet satisfying ice creams you can make: mint chocolate chip. So we stocked up on the ingredients (all organic of course...just to make it "healthier") and put our ice cream bowl in the freezer Saturday afternoon. By Sunday evening, it was plenty chilled and we made our first "basic" recipe, as our book refers to them as. After letting that chill in the fridge for a couple hours, it was time to turn our new toy on and give it a go...


Well, nothing can quite prepare you for the ice cream making process. At first you're like "well that's cool--liquid in a chilly bowl, going in circles." And then after about ten minutes, you come back after listening to the constant whirring noise going on in your kitchen, only to find that you have something that's starting to look like ice cream. And then you're like "ERMAHGERD WE'RE MAKING ICE CREAM." And then after ten more minutes, you add the chips and you're like "WE DID IT WE HAVE ICE CREAM!" And then the best part? You get to eat it. Now, I know I'm bias, but our mint chocolate chip ice cream turned out pretty amazing. It was super light and creamy, full of pepperminty flavor, and almost too heavy on the chips. We didn't have any food coloring around, so we went for the natural ice cream look, but I can assure you it's really mint chocolate chip ice cream. So now I'm all proud of myself that I can go back to the office(s) on Monday and when someone asks, "what did you do this weekend?" I can say "I made ice cream!"

Cooking Notes: Since we were unsure how this whole process would go, we halved the recipe for our first time, especially since we don't really have much to store any leftovers in. Plus, we don't usually buy heavy whipping and that's not exactly something you want to have leftover because then you never  find another use for it. Well, I guess until now since we have an ice cream maker! (Can you tell I'm excited?!?)

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (adapted from 101 Gourmet Ice Cream Creations; serves 4)
1 egg yolk
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup 2% milk
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, frozen

Whisk together egg yolk and 1/8 cup sugar until eggs are light yellow and fluffy. Whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Add the cream, milk, vanilla and peppermint extracts, whisking together until completely combined. Chill in your fridge until cold (2 hours or overnight). When chilled, add to ice cream maker, following manufacturers instructions-ours was simply to turn on the machine and pour in the wet ingredients, allowing them to mix for about 25 minutes. At the 20 minute mark, add the frozen chocolate chips. Allow to stir for the last 5 minutes, then stick ice cream bowl in freezer for 5-10 minutes before scooping out ice cream to enjoy!