July was National Ice Cream Month! And what better way to compliment the summer heat than with a big old bowl of your favorite ice cream flavor. My favorite flavor? Easy. Mint Chocolate Chip—-but not just any variety. This gal requires that her Mint Chocolate Chip not only taste good but have that bright green hue that only food coloring can bring 🙂 It just tastes better….True Story.
And although I realize traditional Gelato is different than Ice Cream, I thought that its Italian counterpart would be a great “lighter” alternative to celebrate this fun food month. I was inspired to try out the Mint Chip Gelato from Ravenous Couple as I liked their interpretation from David Lebovitz and Mark Bittman.
The recipe was straight and to the point—-and with my lovely Cuisinart Ice Cream/Sorbet Maker, it was a breeze! Because I added 1.5 bunches of fresh mint to my base, my gelato was MINT-A-LICIOUS—which was perfect for me. I think the only change I would make next time would be to reduce the cornstarch to 1 Tablespoon as 2 was just a little too much for my liking. And because of the high volume of fresh mint that I used, I was able to achieve a very pretty light green hue. Quite lovely with no food coloring needed.
And not only was my end product delicious but I knew exactly EVERYTHING that was in it and could control amounts, etc. No added preservatives or filler ingredients here.
There’s nearly two official months left until Summer ends and I intend to fully give my ice cream maker a work out 🙂
Until next time friends, stay COOL (pun intended).
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Mint Chip Gelato
From Ravenous Couple
Ingredients:
2 Cups Whole Milk
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
Pinch salt
1-2 Bunches Fresh Mint, washed, dried, and destemmed
5 oz. Dark Chocolate
Make a slurry with about 3-4 tbs of milk and corn starch in a bowl and set aside.  Add the remainder of the milk to a sauce pan, mint, salt, and sugar under medium low heat.  When mixture starts to bubble, turn off heat and allow mint to steep for about 1 hour.  Then pour mixture over a sieve and squeeze out the fluid from  mint and discard.
Reheat his mixture under medium low heat. When it begins to bubble, add your mixed slurry and stir making sure there are no clumps. Continue to heat until it thickens..when you can run a line on a back of a spoon without the mixture coming together it should be done. Â Cool completely (preferably over night) and then add to your ice cream maker, follow it’s directions.
Place the container that you plan on storing the ice cream in the freezer.
In the mean time, coarsely chop the chocolate into small pieces and heat over a water bath. Â When the ice cream maker is done, scribble the melted chocolate onto your cold container–it should freeze almost instantly. Scoop in a layer of ice cream and break up the chocolate. Scribble more chocolate and layer on more ice cream. Â Continue until done and freeze until firm. Â Before serving allow to thaw just slightly before scooping.
theculinarychronicles.com 
MM mint chip is one of my favorite flavors! I love how your recipe doesn’t use egg yolk. I don’t like using yolk in my ice creams/ gelatos so that cuts out sooo many of the recipes.
Me too, Roxan! I often shy away from recipes that require only Egg Yolks or Egg Whites as I do not like to accumulate the “leftover parts” in my fridge! That’s why I was so drawn to the recipe from Ravenous Couple and found that I didn’t miss the egg yolks at all 🙂
Cheers to you!
So glad you liked our version! Yours look soo good we might make it again!
You guys were great inspiration!!! Thanks for sharing the yummy recipe! 🙂
I found this recipe on another site, but it leaves out a few important things. Like when I am cooling over night-is that in the refrig or on the counter? On the counter doesn’t sound food safe, but it doesn’t say to refrigerate.
Hi Alice, you can cool the mixture on the counter for just a few hours w/out refrigeration (in cool temp). I found that to be sufficient for a nice texture gelato. Cheers!