Mint Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

 Hey, guess what: it's August. Ew. I don't know about you, but where I live August is pretty much the grossest month of the year, sweat-wise. With soaring temperatures and a broken air conditioner my fancy-dancy-ice-cream-maker has been getting quite the workout. I decided to make everyone's favorite, mint chocolate chip. But chips are boring so I made mint chocolate fudge. It's better.


LOOK AT IT


When you get to the swirling part you'll need to move fast. Faster than that. FASTER. Ice cream get its creaminess from the churning, which breaks apart any ice crystals and mixes in fluffy air. Any parts that melt during the swirling will lose that fluffy air and will re-form the ice crystals as it freezes, giving it more of a frozen-milk texture than ice cream. So by keeping the fudge chilled in the fridge (it should remain soft enough to pour or scoop) and swirling quick enough you should be able to prevent that from happening.



Mint Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

For the Ice Cream: 
2 c. milk
2 c. heavy cream
1/2  tbsp. mint extract
1 c. suger
4 egg yolks (room temperature)

For the Chocolate:
1/2  c. sugar
2 tsp butter
1 c. marsmallow fluff
1/4tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c chocolate


To start the ice cream mix milk, cream and mint in a large sauce pan and slowly warm it up. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl. When the cream and milk begins to steam, mix a few spoonful into the egg, then a ladle, then dump all the egg into the cream and stir. Keep it on the heat until it just begins to bubble, then take it off and let it cool. It should be thickish.

Cover it, stick it in the fridge.

Make the chocolate swirl in a separate pot by be mixing sugar, butter, marshmallow, salt and vanilla together. Put it on the stove with the heat on med-low until it’s all melted together. Add the chocolate, turn the heat off and stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely incorporated. Let it cool, stick it in the fridge.

Wait until both mixes are chilled (a couple of hours).

When ready stick the cream mix in your ice-cream maker and follow the instructions (or put it in the freezer, stirring  every 10-15 minutes, but you should really get an ice cream maker it’s fabulous). When the ice cream reaches soft-serve stage spoon it into a wide pan, then pour the fudge over it (you don't need to use all of it). Swirl them together with a spatula -- not a whole lot, just enough to get a pretty pattern.

Pour it into your chosen container and keep it in the freezer.




August 16, 2011