Homemade ice cream

Homemade ice cream is easy peasy and so delish.  There are only a a few ingredients and steps you need to make cheap and additive-free ice cream at home.

Step 1 - find a good friend to give you their Kitchenaid Ice Cream maker that they got for their wedding 5 years ago and still had it in the box (gasp).

Step 2 - assemble your flavor choices.  For this post, I'm using chocolate chip mint as an example.

Step 3 - make it

Step 4 - freeze it

Step 5 - make out with the bowl

Ingredients (chocolate chip mint)
-2 cups of heavy cream (you can already tell this will be delicious)
-1 cup of milk (I use 1% organic)
-a gaggle* of mint leaves; I prefer spearmint
-3/4 cup of sugar
-4-6 egg yolks**
-a dash of vanilla.  I don't measure, so maybe 1 tsp?
-a grip of chocolate chips, diced

In a saucepan, whisk the egg yolks and sugar to combine.  Add the milk and cream, stir to combine.  Add the mint, and using a whisk or a potato masher, crush the mint while heating the mixture.  Do this for about 5 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until very cold.  Don't skip this step.  Trust me; I learned it the hard way on Friday.  Once it's very cold, strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer to remove the mint leaves.  Take the leaves, and holding them above the milk mixture, squeeze the snot out of them.  Stir.

Turn on your ice cream mixer THEN slowly pour in the liquid ingredients.  Allow it to mix for about 15 minutes.  Once the ice cream is getting chunky, add the chocolate chips.  Mix for an additional 10-15 min.  Ice cream will still be fairly soft at this point.

Transfer ice cream to a freezer-proof container, and freeze until it's achieved the desired hardness.  About 6 hrs in our normal freezer makes it the consistency of store-bought ice cream.


*what do you call a bunch of mint leaves?  A herd?  A posse?
**yes, I said egg yolks.  Raw yolks in your uncooked food?!?!  Live a little.  Just don't use recalled eggs.  I buy mine from a local farmer at our farmer's market.  I trust her eggs.  Her chickens are good people

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