Acing the Mint Chip Ice Cream Final!

I figured it out the other day and had already gathered my ingredients for another run at the fabled Mint Chip Ice Cream Crown. I recognized my first batch mistakes and determined not to repeat them. Hey, if you're gonna screw up, screw up in a new and different way than before.

The differences were subtle but made for a much, much better product. In fact, the vanilla tasted far better than it had in the past by the simple switching of one single ingredient. Of course, when there are only four ingredients in the base mix then switching one can make for a huge difference.

I substituted an ultra pastuerized whipping cream for the heavy whipping cream I'd been using and, instead of blending it all in together. I combined the milk and the sugar with the stick blender and then folded in the cream and the vanilla. It doesn't agitate the cream so much and the whole mixture takes on a much creamier texture from the start.

Another key difference. Chilling the chips in the freezer as well as the mint extract. The colder it is when added to the whirring mixture, the better.

And the main difference that really made it all come together? Getting some Andes mint and chocolate chips at Safeway. They add just the exact right amount of mint flavor without overpowering the tastebuds.

At twenty minutes in, the ice cream had thickened to the point where it was piling up behind the scraper on the side of the bowl. I tasted it and was surprised to find that it didn't dissolve into its component parts very quickly at all. It had cohesed into ice cream and it was very, very fresh and excellent tasting. I removed just under half the vanilla ice cream and put it in a small tupperware box to chill for a few hours in the freezer. Then I started the machine back up again so I could pour in the chips to mix into the ice cream. With just a about a minute left, I pulled the mint extract out of the freezer and poured a very, very small amount into the now halved mixture. It was just the right amount to give the ice cream a minty smell but again without being too much. And it tasted absolutely perfect!

Even not fully solidified, it was the best mint chip ice cream I'd ever had. Smooth with a layering of flavors and each bite begged for more.

And that's the story of how I created the finest mint chip ice cream ever. Next up? I want to try some butter pecan and some peach in two seperate batches (of course, the beauty of this machine is that I can make both kinds at once!).