Rich and smooth, Double Chocolate Mint Chip Ice Cream is chocolate frozen custard infused with a hint of mint and punctuated by shards of dark chocolate. With less fat than standard ice cream, this mint chocolate chip gelato is the way to go!
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Why this recipe works
- A rich chocolate frozen custard studded with shards of chocolate
- Infusing the milk with fresh mint is an easy way to add mint flavor to the custard base
- Drizzling in melted chocolate mixed with a small amount of canola oil produces chocolate shards that are easier to eat than frozen chocolate chips
- Gelato has less fat than ice cream, but still has that rich ice cream flavor and texture
Making homemade ice cream doesn’t have to be relegated to summer. There are so many iconic ice cream flavors for the four seasons, why be limited? Spring is for mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Hold up…make that chocolate mint chip ice cream, using chocolate ice cream as the base. Or perhaps that should be chocolate mint frozen custard (the richer cousin to ice cream).
And if we make this Double Chocolate Mint Chip Ice Cream as a gelato, it'll have all the flavor and texture of homemade frozen custard with less calories. Score!
This Double Chocolate Mint Chip gelato has deep chocolate flavor with a hint of mint underneath. The texture is so wonderfully rich and satisfying, you won’t miss that extra heavy cream.
I made sundaes by topping scoops of this gelato with homemade hot fudge and melted Irish Whiskey Marshmallows. How’s that for a way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
This recipe for chocolate mint chip ice cream is easy to make and easy to savor. Give yourself the time to treat yourself to chocolatey minty goodness!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
There is very little in life that I love more than mint chip ice cream and this just made it even better!
- Catherine
Recipe Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make this Double Chocolate Mint Chip ice cream recipe:
Ingredient Notes
Like with many rich ice cream recipes, you need heavy cream, milk, sugar, and egg yolks for a gelato recipe.
Milk and heavy cream: Provides the basis for the dairy custard. The amount of milk vs. heavy cream can be adjusted to suit your tastes. Ice cream generally has more heavy cream than milk (or they're equal, like in this French vanilla ice cream recipe). With a gelato recipe, there is more milk than heavy cream.
Depending on the kind of milk you use, you can also control the overall level of dairy fat in your gelato. Lower the fat by using non-fat milk, and increase it by using whole milk. You can even use dairy-free milk products. I use 1% milk because it produces ice cream that's rich but doesn't have that "coating your tongue" mouthfeel.
Mint: Fresh mint is infused into the heavy cream, lending a soft mint flavor to the chocolate frozen custard. It's more subtle the using mint extract, which will be more pronounced. Personally, I like the gentle mint flavor in this recipe.
As a guide, one 1-ounce package of mint will yield about ½ cup (15 grams) of mint leaves. For a more pronounced mint flavor, use up to 1 cup (30 grams) of fresh mint leaves. Alternatively, you can add ¼ teaspoon of mint extract to the finished custard.
Chocolate: A solid dark chocolate bar is used to flavor the custard base, and later to melt for the chocolate chip mix-in. You can also use dark chocolate wafers instead of chopping the chocolate if you prefer.
Dark chocolate has 60 to 72% cocoa - the higher the percentage, the deeper the flavor. If that's too intense, you can use semi-sweet chocolate instead.
Canola oil: Used to help the melted chocolate freeze into shards as it's added to the churning ice cream. Believe me, it works.
See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Infuse flavor with mint
I like recipes with fresh mint because I can infuse the flavor into certain ingredients. When mint and chocolate are paired, the flavors complement each other so well.
For Mint Chocolate Chunk cookies, mint is steeped in melted butter, bringing that bright mint flavor to the cookie without it tasting plastic-y (as I sometimes find recipes using mint extract do). A humble chocolate chocolate chip cookie gets elevated into something sublime.
In a recipe for homemade ice cream, infusing fresh mint into the milk is a great way to add a hint of mint to the finished product. You can even add mint flavor by infusing it into simple syrup (sugar fully dissolved in water). Strawberry-Mint Sorbet is flavored this way.
How to make Double Chocolate Mint Ice Cream
The process for making homemade chocolate ice cream is just like that of making chocolate custard. The difference is that you must chill your custard base thoroughly before churning it.
Step 1: Chop the chocolate
Chop the chocolate using a serrated knife (it cuts chocolate better than a chef's knife). Put 4½ ounces (125 grams) of the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and set aside (photo 1). The rest you'll use for the chocolate drizzle mix-in later.
Step 2: Make the chocolate custard base
Combine the milk and mint in a saucepan (photo 2). Heat over medium heat until small bubbles form and it starts to steam, about 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let it steep 20 minutes. Return the saucepan to the stove and heat until the milk is steaming again, but not boiling.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, heavy cream, sugar, and salt until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is dissolved (photo 3).
Gently heat the egg mixture by slowly adding ½ cup of the warm milk to the egg mixture while continuously whisking. This process is called tempering the eggs. Add another ½ cup of milk and temper the egg mixture again.
Pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk (photo 4).
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat (don't let it boil). Cook until the custard has thickened, stirring constantly, about 4 to 6 minutes. It should coat the back of the spoon and leave a trail when you draw your finger through it (about 170°F on a digital thermometer). (photo 5).
Add the hot custard into the bowl with the chopped chocolate (photo 6). Cover and let sit for 2 minutes, then stir until the custard is smooth. This is just like when making chocolate ganache.
Step 3: Strain and chill the chocolate custard base
Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl, pressing on the mint. Not only are you straining out the spent mint leaves, you're also removing any bits of curdled egg that might be lurking in the custard.
Put the chocolate custard bowl in a larger bowl filled with an ice bath (½ ice cubes, ½ water, reaching halfway up the sides of the bowl). Stir the custard occasionally until it's cooled to room temperature, around 70 to 80˚F (photo 7).
Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight. Chilled custard can be kept in the refrigerator for several days. For the best results, make sure the base is about 40˚F prior to churning.
Why use an ice bath to cool food?
Cooling any hot food before refrigerating it is important, especially cooked custards. You don't want to raise the temperature of the refrigerator's interior as that hot food cools.
However, just leaving the hot food on the counter to cool isn't a good idea either. Leaving any hot food out to cool for more than two hours at a temperature range of 135°F to 70°F invites the risk of harmful bacteria growing in it.
The best way to cool hot food safely is to quickly cool it down in an ice bath, then finishing the cooling in the refrigerator. It's all about food safety!
Step 4: Churn the ice cream
About 30 minutes before freezing the ice cream, melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 30 second increments. Add the canola oil and stir again (photo 8). Let it cool to room temperature.
Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze per the manufacturer’s instructions, about 25 minutes (photo 9).
When it’s almost done and has the consistency of whipped cream (after about 25 minutes), pour in the melted chocolate with the machine running. Churn until all the melted chocolate has been added and mixed into the ice cream. Alternatively, stop the machine, pour a little chocolate in, and restart churning. Repeat until all the melted chocolate has been added.
The ice cream maker I'm using is a KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Another good option is a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.
Step 5: Ripen the ice cream
Transfer the gelato to a freezer-safe container and smooth over using a small offset spatula. Freeze for 2 to 4 hours to allow the gelato to firm up, a process called ripening (photo 10).
Storage instructions
Homemade ice cream will last for up to a month in a plastic freezer container placed in the rear of the freezer. After that, the ice cream may develop ice crystals and lose its creamy texture.
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
Recipes for homemade ice cream are fairly straightforward. At its most basic all you really need is heavy cream and a sweetener (that’s the base). After that you flavor your base as you please (vanilla beans, chocolate, mint…) and add mix-ins if you'd like (chocolate chips, nuts, marshmallow creme, cookie crumbs).
An ice cream custard base (aka frozen custard) is in the same family as pastry cream (a version of Crème Anglaise for you purists). The benefit is that frozen custards are richer in flavor and have more body than regular ice creams. However, with that added richness comes added calories.
Gelato uses the same frozen custard method, but its base typically has twice as much milk than heavy cream, so it has a lower butterfat content than ice cream. Great flavor, less calories. Win!
Generally speaking, it's better to use mini chocolate chips as a mix-in for ice cream instead of full sized chips. They're easier to chew when frozen.
However, instead of just tossing in chocolate chips towards the end of churning the gelato, it's better to drizzle in melted chocolate mixed with a small amount of canola oil. This technique produces slivers and shards of chocolate in the finished product. This way gives a more pleasant ice-cream-eating experience.
I hope you like this recipe! Let me know if you have any questions, and don't forget to leave a comment and rating. Thanks!
Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!
- Tammy
More recipes featuring mint to try
Recipe
Double Chocolate Mint Chip Ice Cream (Gelato)
Equipment
- serrated knife
- 2-quart heavy saucepan
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dark chocolate, (1⅓ cups), divided, see Recipe Notes
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup fresh mint, see Recipe Notes
- 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
Instructions
- Make the custard base: Chop the chocolate using a serrated knife. Put 4½ ounces (125 grams) of the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and set aside. The rest you'll use for the chocolate drizzle later.
- Combine the milk and mint in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until small bubbles form and it starts to steam, about 6 to 7 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let the mixture steep for 20 minutes. Return the saucepan to the stove and heat until the milk is steaming again, but not boiling.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, heavy cream, sugar, and salt until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is dissolved.
- Gently heat the egg mixture by slowly adding ½ cup of the warmed cream to the egg mixture while continuously whisking. Add another ½ cup of the cream and temper the egg mixture again. This process is called tempering the eggs, and its purpose is to prevent the eggs from curdling while the custard cooks.
- Pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat (don't let it boil). Cook until the custard has thickened, stirring constantly, about 4 to 6 minutes. It should coat the back of the spoon and leave a trail when you draw your finger through it (about 170 °F on a digital thermometer).
- Add the hot custard into the bowl with the chopped chocolate. Cover and let sit for 2 minutes, then stir until the custard is smooth. This is just like when making chocolate ganache.
- Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl, pressing on the mint. Put the chocolate custard bowl in a larger bowl filled with an ice bath (½ ice cubes, ½ water, reaching halfway up the sides of the bowl). Stir the custard occasionally until it's cooled to room temperature (about 80 °F).
- Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight. Chilled custard can be kept in the refrigerator for several days. For the best results, make sure the base is about 40 °F prior to churning.
- Churn the ice cream: About 30 minutes before freezing the gelato, melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 30 second increments. Add the canola oil and stir again. Let it cool to room temperature.
- Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze per the manufacturer’s instructions. When it’s almost done and has the consistency of whipped cream (after about 25 minutes), pour in the melted chocolate with the machine running. Churn until all the melted chocolate has been added and mixed into the ice cream. Alternatively, stop the machine, pour a little chocolate in, and restart churning. Repeat until all the melted chocolate has been added. The gelato will have a soft consistency.
- Ripen the ice cream: Transfer the gelato to a freezer-safe container and smooth over using a small offset spatula. Freeze for 2 to 4 hours to allow the gelato to firm up, a process called ripening. Serve and enjoy!
- Storage instructions: Homemade ice cream will last for up to a month in a plastic freezer container placed in the rear of the freezer. After that, the ice cream may develop ice crystals and lose its creamy texture.
Catherine says
There is very little in life that I love more than mint chip ice cream and this just made it even better!
Tammy says
Glad you're enjoying this recipe, Catherine!
Shira says
So yummy!!