Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

This is my favorite Paleo Ice-cream. I remember as a young child going into an ice-cream store and seeing this green ice-cream and I immediately knew that was what I wanted. When I tasted the cool mint flavor mixed with chocolate, I was hooked for life. Our ice-cream is just a bit healthier though. There is no green color or other added “garbage.” Just plain, amazingly tasty mint chocolate chip ice-cream, Paleo of course.

Also, the way I make this with the chocolate chips perhaps would be more appropriately called “revel.” To me it’s a faster and easier way to get chocolate chunks/revel.

Makes enough for a 2 quart ice-cream maker

You’ll Need:

Milk Mixture
3 cans coconut milk
1 cup almond milk
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 cup dried mint leafs

Chocolate Chips/revel
½ cup virgin coconut oil (not the cheap stuff)
½ cup raw cacao powder
¼ cup pure maple syrup

Put the container that you will be putting the finished ice cream in, into the freezer before starting; this is important because you do not want the ice cream to melt at all before further freezing, or it will affect the texture of the ice cream.

Pour one can of coconut milk into a saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly. As soon as the milk is hot, not boiling, stir in the mint leaves. Continue stirring for about 5 minutes. Once the mint/milk mixture has “steeped” for about 5 minutes, pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the leafs. Mix the mint-infused milk with the remaining coconut milk and the maple syrup. If the mixture is warm or hot, chill it before you attempt to put it in the ice-cream freezer. Then pour the mixture into your ice-cream freezer. At this point you will need to add some almond milk to obtain the correct volume for your ice-cream freezer, about a cup. Then process according to your ice cream makers instructions.

As soon as the ice-cream begins processing you can begin making the chocolate chips. Put the coconut oil into a double boiler on low heat. You don’t want the mixture to get above 98 degrees. That’s when the nutrient content of the raw cacao changes. Keep it healthy. As soon as it is in liquid form, add the cacao powder and mix it thoroughly with a fork. When there are no more chunks, remove from heat and add the maple syrup. Then set aside and wait for the ice cream-to finish.

After the ice-cream has processed long enough, take the frozen container out of the freezer and immediately put the ice cream in it. The way I do this in order to get chocolate chips/chunks is to layer about an inch or so of ice-cream in the container. Then drizzle some of the cooled chocolate mixture onto the ice-cream and it will immediately begin to harden. Then I lightly stir it to “break up” the chocolate chunks. Repeat this process until you’ve used all the chocolate mixture. Then put the ice-cream into the freezer, because the ice cream will melt rather quickly. Keep it in the freezer till you are ready to eat it; if you leave it in there for a while, you might need to let it soften a little before eating it.

So if you have any sort of an emotional attachment to chocolate chip mint ice-cream like I do, this is the healthiest paleo alternative around.