Thin Mint Ice Cream

Just before St. Patrick’s Day I set out to make ice cream and couldn’t find any mint extract. Is that because of the green-ness for the holiday? The store had lots of other extracts: rum; banana; orange; hazelnut, lemon, almond,  raspberry; and vanilla. I found green food coloring and then scrounged around to find mint flavors I could add into my would-be mint chip ice cream. I was psyched to put my new ice cream containers to use!
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I found the generic Thin Mint cookies and figured why not?! I got fresh mint. Then I peeked around the dairy section finding York Peppermint Creamer. Sure, join this mintfest.

Ingredients:
1 cups milk (I used 1%)
½ cup half-and-half
½ cup peppermint coffee creamer
20 fresh mint leaves
3/4 cups sugar
dash of salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-6 drops green food coloring
10 thin mint cookies, crushed
2 tbs mini mint chips (or chunks)

Directions:
Cook milk, half and half, creamer and mint leaves in a medium pan, over medium-high heat. Heat about 5-8 minutes until the milk mixture gently bubbles, but doesn’t boil.
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Remove from heat and let the mint steep for about 10 minutes.
While mint is steeping, in a small bowl, mix sugar, salt and egg yolks. Whisk to mix throughly.
Pour milk mixture through colander to separate the mint leaves. Press all the milk out of them and disgard.
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Return mint mix to pan over medium heat.
Slowly add the egg/sugar mixture, stirring for five minutes.
Remove from heat, add vanilla and a few drops of green coloring.
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Refrigerate for a few hours, stirring occasionally, until completely chilled.
Add the rest of the green drops until it becomes your color of choice.
Mix according to manufacturer’s instructions (I mixed 35 minutes).
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Mix cookies and chips in by hand.
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Freeze for at least 30 minutes before serving.
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Makes just over 1 quart.

Ohh my minty ice cream. I worried about the mintiness since I couldn’t find mint extract. Apparently, when you add every other mint thing you can find, it tastes minty enough. It wasn’t perfectly creamy. There was a tiny edge of an icy texture. I really think the non-dairy creamer is at fault for that. Whole fat milk is best and that non-dairy stuff is a little bit creepy now that I think about it….

When I smelled the mint, I immediately wanted a mojito. Is that bad? I smell mint and bypass toothpaste wanting a mixed drink?

Mint oreos would have been good, but they seem to sell out for St. Patrick’s Day too. I brought this to our green/St. Patrick’s Day potluck. I didn’t photograph it, let’s just say it wasn’t our finest potluck. Maybe next time.

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