It was pudding’s birthday recently. What do you buy someone who lives in Darwin where it’s always hot? An ice cream maker of course! So it’s about time I get an ice cream recipe up here so he can actually use it!
Peppermint choc-chip is my all time favourite ice cream. I was in the garden this afternoon watering the veggie patch and noticed the peppermint I planted a couple years ago, and subsequently relocated to a pot, was taking over the strawberries…again. Hot tip: Never plant peppermint or mint in the garden, always plant it in a pot. No matter how many times you think you’ve ripped all of it out, it reappears! So I didn’t need much more of an excuse to apply the freshly picked peppermint to a good use.
Makes about 1L of ice cream

Ingredients
250ml milk
500ml cream
150g caster suger
Bunch of peppermint or mint, leaves picked
6 large egg yolks
90g dark chocolate, or milk if you prefer

Method
In a heavy-based saucepan combine milk, sugar, 250ml cream and peppermint leaves and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and steep for half an hour. Pour the mixture through a sieve and push as much flavour out of the peppermint as you can, or want to.
Reheat the milk and cream mixture until just boiling. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Once the milk mixture is ready whisk into the egg yolks. Pour back into the saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken, don’t take your eye off it, and is ready once it reaches 80°C or the mixture coats the back of the spoon – if you run your finger across the spoon the mixture shouldn’t run back together.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the remaining 250ml of cream. Chill the mixture and churn in the ice cream machine according to manufacturer instructions.
While the ice cream is churning melt the chocolate in a double boiler arrangement. Once churned pour the ice cream into a container little by little.  Drizzling the chocolate over the ice cream, like you’re creating layers through the ice cream. When scooping the ice cream it will break up into delicious little chunks. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours to properly set. YUM!

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