Cookies ‘n’ Mint Ice Cream
I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this self-appointed assignment. It took me a couple tries this week to get this recipe right so we have been eating a lot of ice cream. Which is totally fine with me!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love ice cream?
Like seriously. LOVE. IT.
When I was a kid that was the only way my parents could get me to eat, “Megan if you eat your dinner, you can have some ice cream…” My mom would say in an exasperated tone.
It would still, often times, take me half the night to eat cube steak. Gag. I still don’t like cube steak. But I like lots of other things 🙂 I think I am now a pretty good eater and can even be seen eating beef now and again (so long as it’s good beef).
Mint ice cream is a particular favorite of mine. I love the cool, refreshing smoothness of the mint.I don’t typically care for mint chocolate chip though. I am kinda funny about ice cream texture.
It should be smooth, creamy and you shouldn’t have to chew anything. I don’t like the chocolate chips for some reason. I will do nuts on occasion but chocolate chips I do not care for.
So I like to make this with crushed up cookies 🙂 Sort of a combination with cookies and cream (which is another favorite of mine). So delish.
I did try making this, at first, with maple syrup as the sweetener instead of the sugar and the flavor was fabulous. I mean really you couldn’t tell there was no granulated sugar in there – no one even noticed. The only thing about removing sugar from your ice cream is you end up with more of an icy product than a smooth and creamy product. Sugar helps retard the ice crystals so, unfortunately for people like myself who try to avoid sugar but insist on smooth creamy ice cream, this is a problem. It really wasn’t all that bad and I think in the future I will make ice cream with maple syrup.
For the sake of experimentation though, I made the second attempt with white granulated sugar and it did turn out much creamier.
The other thing I experimented with is using cornstarch to retard the ice crystals. A reader commented on my last recipe that this is helpful so I decided to try it and it does help quite a bit, but if you add to much you will get an almost grainy texture so you can only add a bit, I really think using corn syrup works the best but again, then you are adding something nasty to an otherwise nearly healthy product. So you can choose. The healthier options of maple syrup and cornstarch do produce a pretty darn good ice cream, but the sugar and corn syrup produce an even better one…ack! Decisions….decisions…
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup mint leaves
- ½ cup granulated sugar or maple syrup
- 7 eggs, separated
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- 1½ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 15 chocolate wafer cookies, crushed
- Place the heavy cream and mint leaves in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the cream starts to bubble, remove from heat and allow to infuse for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the mint leaves.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat the egg yolks and granulated sugar (if using - if not we will add the maple syrup in a bit) until light colored and fluffy.
- Reheat the cream to nearly boiling.
- Temper the egg yolks by slowly drizzling the hot cream into the eggs while whisking on medium high. Once the cream is added, keep the mixer running and slowly pour in the egg whites, maple syrup and cornstarch.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat, whisking the entire heat the mixture until it thickens a bit. Should just coat the back of a spoon.
- Then add the milk and vanilla extract.
- Place mixture in the fridge until cold.
- Once the mixture is cold, place it in your ice cream maker and run according to manufacturers instructions.
- Once the ice cream is done, fold in the crushed up cookies. Serve immediately or place in the freezer and eat later. If you are freezing it and eating it later, make sure it is well covered in the freezer and allow it to thaw on the counter for about 15-20 minutes prior to serving.
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[…] Ingredients1 cup heavy cream½ cup mint leaves½ cup granulated sugar or maple syrup7 eggs, separated2 teaspoons cornstarch or 1 tablespoon corn syrup1½ cup whole milk1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract15 chocolate wafer cookies, crushed […]