Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

This is a recipe I’ve been wanting to share for a while because it turned out so well. One day during the summer when my site was under construction I made a blog inspired by a random holiday called National Fresh Breath Day! So here its…

I made Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches!! Not only do I have a recipe for the mint chocolate chip cookies, but I ALSO have the recipe for the mint ice cream as well. I’ve never made ice cream from scratch outside of the bag kind you make in high school chemistry class and I actually had a lot of fun.

I started with the mint chocolate chip cookies. I set out all my ingredients and was ready to experiment. 

As in most recipes, I added in all the dry ingredients first, then the wet as you will see in the directions at the bottom of the page. Once you get the cookies done and out of the oven, I did my favorite part. It’s optional but was super fun. I melted dark chocolate in a double boiler to dip half of the mint chocolate chip cookie in to give it a more “sophisticated” look.

Then you will want to put these back in the fridge until they harden.

….NEXT comes the fun part of the mint ice cream. Because I’m not boujee enough yet to have my own personal ice cream maker I learned how to make ice cream from scratch. This required first to use 2 separate mixing bowls. Weigh down the second smaller bowl inside of the larger bowl and pour water in between the two, then freeze it. While that is freezing you can start with the actually ice cream mix. To get the mint flavor I first infused about 30 leaves from a mint plant with the half and half and cream by simmering the two ingredients together in a saucepan until it is slightly boiling.  Then take it off the heat and let it sit for 5-20 minutes, depending on how much of a mint flavor you personally want to taste. (if you don’t want to do all of this just skip this step and mix in mint extract before putting in the fridge)

While that is sitting you can combine the egg yolks and sugar in a saucepan and whisk together until it is a pale yellow. I think it’s funny how much multitasking is involved in baking its almost scary! At this point you will want to take your mint leave and cream mixture and strain it into the pan with the egg yolks and sugar. Turning the heat to medium low, you will constantly stir until it becomes thick. You will know when its ready because wen you dip a spoon in the cream, you will be able to draw a line with your finger on the back of it and it will remain intact. 

Then once again, you will strain the custard into a bowl and cover and refrigerate from at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.

But WAIT… there’s more! If you are lucky and have an ice cream maker then simply use your refrigerated cream in there, BUT if you are like me and you don’t, you will put the mixture into the ice bowl you made earlier and whip it on high speed until it is very cold and has some air in it (about 10 min). Then you will cover the ice cream with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour, where it should be like pudding. Then beat it again for 5 minutes and this time put the plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture, freezing for 4 hours or overnight until FINALLY, it is hard all the way through and you have some delicious ice cream to taste!

Now came my favorite part. Scooping the ice cream and putting them between two tasty mint chocolate chip cookies dipped in dark chocolate.

Of course I had to garnish as well with the mint leaf on top just to be fancy. I hope you try this recipe and enjoy your homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches!

Recipe:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1/2 cup White Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Mint Extract
• 1 cup All Purpose Flour
• 2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Whole Milk
• 1 cup of Semisweet Chocolate Chips
• Optional: 2 Bars of Dark Chocolate 

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2.  Add the butter and brown and white sugar to an electric mixing bowl and cream together. Add the mint extract and mix in.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and mix in the baking soda and salt
4.  Add dry ingredients to the wet, mixing in by hand until crumbly.
5. Add the 1 Tbsp whole milk and mix into a thick cookie dough
6.  Add the chocolate chips and mix in. Your cookie dough will be very thick, but sticky enough to easily roll into balls.
7. Roll into small balls and space evenly on a parchment lined baking tray.
8. Bake for 10 minutes. The edges will be firm but the cookies will still be soft in the middle. This is fine, they will firm up as they cool.
9. Melt dark chocolate on a double boiler on the stove and dip the cooled cookie halfway into the chocolate
10. Set on parchment paper and let harden in the fridge

Mint Ice Cream:

• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cup of sugar
• 2 cups of half n half
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ tsp salt
• 30 mint leaves (Substitute: 2 tsp mint extract)

Directions:

1. Infuse the mint leaves with the half n half and heavy cream in a pot over the stove.
2. Simmer until it slightly boils, then remove from heat and let sit for 5-20 minutes, depending on how much flavor you would like
3. While that sits, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a saucepan until pale yellow.
4. Strain the infused mint leaf concoction into the saucepan with the eggs and turn heat to medium low, mixing together until thick
5. You will know its done when you can dip a spoon in the mixture, make a line on the back of it with your finger, and the line stays in tact. Pour out of the bowl and stir in the salt.
6. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
7. Put the mint cream mixture into an ice cream machine and Voila!