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Friday, July 31, 2009

Time to Social-ice! Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and New Prizes


Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream


"A perfect method for adding drama to life is to wait until the deadline looms large."
-- Alice P. Cornyn-Selby

Perhaps it is subconscious denial - a subliminal protest of the end of something wonderful . . . Whatever the reason, I've added drama to my life by waiting until the last day to post a final chilled creation: Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

This creamy, refreshing concoction serves to mark the moment we all knew would come - when we must put down the scoop and bid a fond fare-thee-well to National Ice Cream Month, an event for which I owe immense gratitude to the late Ronald Reagan, who so thoughtfully validated my thirty-one days of frozen dessert pig-out via Presidential Order. In just a few short hours, our Ice Cream Social also ends and with it goes my excuse for using the ice cream maker at will ("I have to make some more. It's for my blog . . . !").

In a happy convergence of opportunities, this last treat not only wraps up the Ice Cream Social, it also ushers in a new period in Mr. Noodle's life. You see, he celebrated his 40th birthday this week and I could think of no better way to commemorate this milestone than to make his favorite ice cream flavor. For as long as he can remember, mint and chocolate has marked his birthday in the form of a cake (which I adapted for an earlier post to create Good Heavens! Cupcakes) and it is this sweet combination that he always chooses for any frozen goodies.

It also gave me a chance to finally make a custard-based ice cream; my previous posts offered an egg-less, no-cook version, a frozen yogurt and a sorbet. As pleased as I was with their results, it felt as if there were a glaring hole in my ice cream repertoire that needed to be filled. Fortunately, there is no shortage of recipes available on the Internet and most of them had a common premise - an ice cream made from a cooked custard with egg, cream and sugar.

In the end, my recipe choice was driven by a desire to use up ingredients that I already had in the refrigerator rather than to buy more. So, the method I selected incorporated the above ice cream-making principle with a familiar pudding recipe from the aforementioned Good Heavens! Cupcakes and a great tip for infusing mint flavor into cream, courtesy of Simply Recipes. To my blushing pleasure, Mr. Noodle declared the end result, "Excellent!"

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
I'm proud to say that every single ingredient I used here was already in my pantry, refrigerator and garden. Instead of cream, I used half-n-half and 1% milk; rather than the typical 5 to 6 egg yolks in many recipes, I used whole eggs; and in place of a mint extract, I infused the custard with fresh mint leaves and added crème de menthe. Furthermore, I used less sugar than originally called for in the pudding recipe, which allowed the mint flavor to really stand out. Feel free to change up the ingredients or amounts to create your own version!


Equipment: ice cream maker

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
3 whole eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 cups 1% milk
1 cup half-and-half
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, torn and loosely packed
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or to preference)

To Make:

1. In a saucepan over low-medium heat, combine 1% milk, half-and-half and mint leaves. Heat mixture just to a scald, making sure not to bring it to a boil;
2. In the meantime, beat whole eggs, sugar and vanilla (if using) until creamy;
3. When milk mixture is heated, strain out mint leaves and return liquid to the saucepan, reserving 1 cup;
4. Slowly add hot cup of milk to the egg and sugar mix, all the while whisking briskly to temper it;
5. Add this mixture to the infused milk in the saucepan and stir to mix well. Over medium heat, cook until it thickens;
6. Remove from heat and pour into a container through a mesh strainer or sieve to catch any egg solids that may have formed;
7. Add crème de menthe, stirring well to fully incorporate, then refrigerate mixture for at least 2 hours;
8. Freeze in ice cream maker as directed by manufacturer's instructions;
9. When finished, immediately transfer ice cream to a plastic container and add chocolate chips, stirring well to mix evenly. Cover tightly with a lid and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.



The Last Hurrah for Our Ice Cream Social!

It's been a marvelous month of delicious frozen treats. As your co-hosts, Scott of ScottySnacks, Jennifer of Savor the Thyme, and I are thrilled with your enthusiastic response to our event. The entries are truly incredible for their creativity, presentation and promised flavors. Although today is the deadline, entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM (PDT) so there's still plenty of time to send us a recipe, photo or video of your favorite chilled dessert for a chance to win some fantastic prizes!

In keeping with our promise of 'sur-prizes', I'm pleased to announce two new rewards:

One winner will receive the book Ice Creams & Sorbets: Cool Recipes, featuring delicious photos and recipes that will surely tempt anyone to keep making frozen delights throughout the year. (Image from Amazon.com)



A special prize goes to the Best Frozen Treat Photograph, courtesy of Scott: a 12"x8" Susan Kare-designed Ice Cream Cone wall graphic from LTLprints.com! (Image from LTLprints.com)



From Stonyfield Farms, the world's leading organic yogurt producer, we are pleased to offer coupons for their line of frozen yogurt and ice cream. Visit their website to learn more about their great products, history and practices. (Image from Stonyfield.com)


Penelope of neenacreates will silk-screen by hand this fantastic graphic, which she designed exclusively for our Ice Cream Social, onto an organic-cotton unisex t-shirt from American Apparel for one lucky winner. Be sure to visit her Etsy shop before midnight for an additional 10% any item - just add "#icsocial" to your order message!


The round-up of all entries will be posted on our three blogs on Monday, August 3 and the winners will also be announced. So please be sure to visit all three sites to enjoy an amazing array of desserts!

It's still summer, so get your scoop on!

43 comments:

  1. I just did mint chocolate chip ice cream last weekend too. Yours turned out a much prettier color

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  2. You AND your posts are fantastic!!! I am working on the post now and man, amazing entries!!

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  3. This really looks like the perfect summer comfort food. But really, how can you go wrong with mint chocolate chip ice cream? ;)

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  4. Hurray hurray for ice cream social day! I should have entered my latest Honey Apple Cinnamon I made for hubby's birthday...

    This is my favorite flavor in the whole world, was my daughters too, have a few bites for us!

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  5. Never tried icecream with mint,very
    flavorful icecream,yuumy click...

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  6. A-ha...I made sure I had an ice cream fix today. Mmmm...I can still taste the hazelnut flavor.

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  7. A big cone of mint chocolate chip would be fantastic. Thanks for fixing ours!

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  8. I love mint chocolate ice cream--this looks delicious!

    BTW--I finally sent a couple entries in today--better late than never huh?!

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  9. Mint chocolate ice cream is my ultimate favorite! I'm looking forward to seeing all the entries for the ice-cream social. So sorry that I didn't get to enter anything in time but I only will have a little mention of Newport creamery and I haven't even written anything yet as this was near the end of our trip.

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  10. Happy birthday to your husband! I love a good mint chocolate chip-- something with a chocolate taste you can actually perceive, not the tasteless black pieces you get at some gelaterias :)

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  11. It seems like I'm in good company as a mint-chocolate-chipaholic.
    Happy Birthday to Mr. Noodle and kudos to you for a delicious looking creation. The use of WHOLE chocolate chips is ingenius. Now the real question - dark or semi-sweet? :)

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  12. Guh. Mint chocolate chip! Heh. Looks fantastic. Using whole eggs didn't do weird things to the texture, did it?

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  13. HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY to MR NOODLE!!!
    Mint chocolate chip was my favorite flavor growing up, especially in ice cream floats (with coca-cola - weird, right?). I love how you've made the recipe more sophisticated with the fresh mint and the creme de menthe! Here's to a great month of ice cream!

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  14. First of all, happy birthday Mr. Noodle. Do you realize how lucky you are to have a fabulous cook for a wife? For a special birthday such as this I recommend celebrating all week long. Who's to stop you?

    Your ice cream socials have made me regret giving my ice cream maker away but sooner or later you run out of room for stuff. All of your ice creams are works of art but I think this one is my favorite so far.
    Sam

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  15. Love this version of ice cream. delicious combination!

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  16. I cannot wait to see the entries! It's been such an exciting month full of ice cream.

    Happy Birthday to Mr. Noodle! Mint chocolate chip isn't my absolute favorite, but there are times when I crave just that and it hits the spot. Yours looks delicious and I can feel one of those mint chocolate chip-specific cravings coming on due to it!

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  17. Happy birthday to your husband. What a treat to eat this delicious ice cream.

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  18. Mint chip is my absolute favorite ice cream! I've always used mint extract to make it though, never used fresh mint. I'll definitely use fresh mint next time.

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  19. MMM Mint n' Chip! One of my favorite flavors! Thanks for sharing. :-)

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  20. Mint Chocolate Chip is one of the few ice cream flavors Mr. SGCC will eat. I, on the other hand, don't like mint, so I never make it for him. Yours looks so luscious I may have to break down and try it. Mr. SGCC thanks you! ;)

    BTW, Happy Birthday to Mr. Noodle!

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  21. You know that mint chocolate chip ice cream is one of my favorite ice creams, even in winter!

    I enjoy a lot seeing all these sweet-creamy entries :)

    Happyyy Birthdayyy to Mr. Noodle!!

    All the best,

    Gera

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  22. Oh gosh that looks so good! :D I love love love mint flavor. And you can't go wrong with mint and chocolate!

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  23. who doesnt like mint ice cream -and WHY DID I NOT FIGURE OUT THIS WAS AN OPEN CONTEST! I would have submitted my avocado ice cream - INSTANTLY - maybe I can claim some time zone thing and still sneak it in?

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  24. Cool mint icecream! Get it? "Cool"...gosh, I'm funny. GREG

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  25. Aww, I wish that I had an ice cream maker so that I could make this delicious ice cream!

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  26. Ah, my bf would love this! He adores the mint and chocolate combination so much it must be rationed in our house. I am definitely revisiting these posts in our summer time! Sort of sick of winter already so I might even give it a go in spring..

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  27. i love mint choc chip, 1. for its colour. i love green! 2. it's my dad's fav and i somehow picked it up as one of my favs too. :D this looks so lovely i wish i could turn my B&J tubs of ice cream in the freezer to this homemade baby. x

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  28. You always have incredible ice cream recipes....I love this..

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  29. What a delicious birthday treat. The chocolate chips look so great!

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  30. I can only imagine Mr. Noodle's delight at this icy concoction. What a lovely combo of flavors. So did you do a mint overdose thing and make the cake too?

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  31. Mmm, I made some of this a while back and it was delicious. Yours looks so pretty... and it matches the color of your blog! LOL

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  32. Whew! It's been a hectic few days and finally, I have a few quiet moments!

    Kat - I owe the color to deKuypers crème de menthe! My husband used to be content with spooning some over his vanilla ice cream but I think he'd prefer this version.

    Jennifer - Thanks! By now, we've even posted the winners. The entries are incredible!

    Jackie - For my husband, this is definitely comfort food - he wouldn't even consider another flavor!

    Chef E - Ooo, I wish you had entered! Maybe we'll do this again next year . . . 8-)

    Vrinda - Minty ice cream is wonderful: creamy and refreshing at the same time!

    Jenn - I wish I could indulge in a daily ice cream fix. Wait a minute! Who says I can't? 8-D

    Duo Dishes - You're welcome! 8-) Hope you enjoyed it!

    Deb - You were definitely not late!! So glad you participated - the apricot cardamom really caught my attention when I saw it on your site!

    5 Star - I hope you'll enjoy the round-up! I've missed some of you trip posts as we've put this together but now I'm free to catch up.

    Manggy - Thank you for the birthday wishes! I used Nestle chocolate chips for this but I'd like to try an even better quality chip. Everything can always be improved!

    Brenda - I'll pass your well-wishes to the hubs! I was about to chop up these chips but he stopped me and asked to leave them be. These are plain old Nestle semi-sweet but I'm going to try a good quality dark or bittersweet to taste the difference.

    Bob - Actually, no; the whole eggs turned out fine! I used them b/c I didn't have enough for just the yolks. But next time, I'm going to follow the original recipe w/regard to the eggs.

    Phyllis - He's been celebrating for more than a week, now! 8-) Thanks for the 'sophisticated' comment - which is the last word I'd use to describe me as I slurp this down!

    Sam - I'll be sure to remind him of his good fortune! Believe me, he is still celebrating. 8-) I've fallen back in love with my IC maker and now that I've made my husband's favorite, it will be well-used for the rest of summer.

    Elra - Thank you! It seems to be a favorite for many - especially my husband!

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  33. (Replies, cont'd)

    Lori - By now, our round-up has been posted so I hope you're enjoying all the ice cream treats! Although this one isn't a fave, I'm sure you'll find some among the amazing entries we got (not the least of which is your Banana-Avocado ice cream!)

    Helene - Thank you for the birthday greetings! There was no way I could've made any other flavor for his special day.

    Marvin - It's such an irresistible flavor combo! I highly recommend the fresh mint - the flavor was so much more natural and pronounced.

    Samantha - You're welcome! Yay for mint'n'chips IC!!

    Susan - I'm pleased to help out Mr. SGCC! And Mr. Noodle thanks you for the birthday greetings. 8-)

    Gera - We definitely love ice cream, even when it is frigid outside! The fresh mint reminds us that summer will eventually return. Thank you for the well-wishes!

    Sophie - He's so flattered by everyone's greetings! Thank you!!

    Andrea - If my husband had his way, this would've been the only ice cream I made all month! 8-D

    Doggybloggy - Oh, I'm sorry!! Your avocado ice cream would definitely have been welcome! Maybe next summer . . . (hey, it's summer in the Southern Hemisphere in December - hmmmm - we may have to run this again for them!)

    Greg - I'm giggling! 8-D

    Palidor - An ice cream maker makes life easier but check out our IC Social round-up for recipes that don't require one!

    Forager - I keep forgetting that it's winter for you but soon enough, summer will come and I'll be the one wishing for warmth! Glad you liked this but do check out our round-up: I promise the desserts are all incredible!

    diva - Thanks! I know there are versions w/o the green color but it's half the fun! My love of this combo came from my husband who would never consider any other flavor!

    Miranda - Thank you! I've enjoyed making all these treats. 8-)

    Lisa - Thank you, although the chips are just plain old Nestle. I was quite proud that I did not have to buy anything to make this - I used only what I had on hand. Next time, I may go 'fancy' on the chocolate!

    OysterCulture - He was quite pleased! In fact, aside from a few small scoops, I let him have most of it. I was actually planning to do the mint-chocolate overdose thing but I ran out of time! I'll make it up to him later. 8-)

    Karen - Thank you! Some of my close-up photos looked like they would merge right into my background so I had to pick ones w/more background! Isn't this a wonderful flavor combo?

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  34. That mint chocolate chip ice cream looks and sounds amazing!! I can't wait to try it!

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  35. the icecream looks just love...mint & choco chips is just wonderful.. i cool of mint enhanced by the very cold icecream

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  36. mint chocolate chip ice cream is one of my kids fav ice cream. m sure theyll hug me for prep this for the weekends. thanx TN
    cheers!!

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  37. Paula - I hope you'll enjoy it! As for me, I'm so ready to try your Lemon Sorbetto Cocktail. The moment I read it, I could picture myself on sipping this as I lounged along the Riviera (or at least my backyard deck!) Please be sure to email us your mailing info so that we can you your Stonyfield Farms coupons!

    Bergamot - Oh yes! Cool on top of cool is the way to describe it. Thank you so much!

    Nora - You're welcome! My husband is a big kid when it comes to his favorite flavor so he was so excited to eat this! Hope your kids will also enjoy.

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  38. This ice cream looks delish! I would love to have some!

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  39. Karine - Thank you! It turned out well for having been cobbled together with what I had on hand! 8-)

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  40. Now, this turns out to have been my 666th discovery on stumbleupon - I think that means that you have created a devilishly good combination here!

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  41. When I was a kid, my best friend and I would go to Baskin-Robbins on a regular basis. I always got chocolate chip; she always got mint chocolate chip. I think now that I'm older and wiser and with more mature taste buds, I'd opt for the mint version instead. ;)

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  42. Hopefully, better late than never . . .

    Spud - Yikes! Have I mentioned how incredibly superstitious I am? Still, this is a sinfully good ice cream! 8-D

    Carolyn - Until I met my husband, I was a chocolate ice cream girl all the way (with adventurous forays into Neapolitan, at times). Now, I love the fresh, cool flavor of mint! 8-)

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  43. thanks for share your recipe.

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Thank you so much for reading my post! I truly appreciate any and all comments; however, my apologies if it takes me a few days to respond. I promise that I do read them and will reply as soon as possible.