Chocolate Mint Ice Cream

This chocolate mint ice cream is infused with fresh mint, and is an egg-free, extra-creamy summer treat. Inspired by Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream!

For years, a weekend trip to Columbus, Ohio was a pretty regular treat.

Columbus was three hours away, but it was also one of the closest "big cities."

Columbus has the Easton Town Center, packed with my favorite shopping places: Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Anthropologie, REI, and H&M.

Columbus has the Franklin Park Observatory (for orchid lovers), COSI (for science-loving kids of all ages), North Market (FOOD!), and German Village (more food!).

And of course, Columbus has Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.

More recently, my weekend getaways are typically in a different direction towards the (now much closer) Lexington, Kentucky — and I miss Jeni's.

Jeni's ice cream isn't just known in the Columbus area; it's become downright famous.

Or at least, famous among people who talk a lot about ice cream.

And happily, her ice cream base recipe is available online.

Want more Jeni's? Check out her two books: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home and Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts.

So, when I was craving chocolate ice cream, and simultaneously staring at my overflowing mint plants, inspiration struck.

Chocolate mint ice cream inspiration.

I love using fresh mint (like in this fresh mint tea, mint simple syrup, classic mint julep. and watermelon mint sorbet), and chocolate mint is, of course, a perfect combination.

This chocolate mint ice cream is infused with fresh mint, and uses Jeni's ice cream base as a starting point.

Want more frozen treat ideas? Try this mango sorbet, mango frozen yogurt, strawberry cheesecake ice cream, beer ice cream, homemade fudgesicles, and mango popsicles.

Does Ice Cream Need Eggs?

Jeni's ice cream is famously rich, creamy, and egg-free.

Typically, ice cream is made with egg yolks.

Lots and lots of egg yolks.

It's what makes the ice cream soft and creamy by preventing ice crystals from forming inside the ice cream, meaning it stays rich and creamy even after days – weeks – MONTHS – in the freezer.

Eggs also bind the ice cream together, making it smooth and scoopable.

So, why would you skip the eggs?

For one thing, the eggs change the flavor of the ice cream. If you're using delicate flavors in your ice cream, you might want to skip the eggs.

And of course, some people avoid eggs for health reasons.

But the good news is, thanks to Jeni's ice cream base recipe (and my slightly modified version), you can make delicious, scoopable, creamy, ice-crystal-free ice cream — without a single egg.

Jeni's Egg-Free Ice Cream Base

In place of eggs, Jeni's recipe uses cornstarch to thicken, cream cheese for creamy scoopableness, and invert sugar (similar to corn syrup) to prevent ice crystals from forming.

In this recipe, I swapped the complicated invert sugar, as well as the corn syrup (which I refuse to use), for honey.

If that sounds like a lot of ingredients to replace eggs — I kind of agree. Except that the flavor is SO PHENOMENAL.

It's totally worth it, because it will make this chocolate mint ice cream into the creamy, rich dessert that it deserves to be.

And I'll walk you through each step.

How to Make Chocolate Mint Ice Cream

Start by thickening some cold milk by mixing cornstarch with it.

The milk has to be cold. Cornstarch won't bind well with hot liquids.

Set it aside.

In a separate bowl, add more milk to a little bit of cream cheese. Heat it up slightly (I use the microwave), and then whisk until it's creamy.

Set it aside.

Make the Ice Cream Base

Next, make the ice cream base.

Heat (more) milk, cream, sugar, cocoa powder, and honey.

To add the cornstarch mixture into the hot ice cream base, start by pouring a little of the hot mixture into the cornstarch mixture. Whisk it up.

Then, pour the cornstarch mixture back into the hot ice cream base, whisking constantly.

The goal is to keep the cornstarch incorporated so that you don't get lumps.

Bring the ice cream base to a boil, and take it off the heat.

Next, whisk the cream cheese and milk mixture into the ice cream base.

Infuse the Mint

Add a big handful of mint leaves — still attached to the stems — into the chocolate mixture.

Leaving the mint on the stems makes it easier to remove from the ice cream base later.

If you want to tie the stems together with twine, that will make it even easier to pull out later.

Cool the ice cream base for at least 4 hours in the fridge.

Once it's cool, you need to remove the mint. I simply used a slotted spoon to strain it out.

If you added loose mint leaves, already removed from the stem, you can strain the mint out using a small mesh tea strainer as a spoon to scoop the mint.

Alternatively, you can strain the entire mixture through a colander or mesh sieve — but that's a little messier and more complicated.

Whip the Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Base in a Blender

This step is optional.

I like to whip my ice cream bases in a blender before adding them to my ice cream maker, because it helps add air bubbles to the ice cream base, and makes the finished product lighter and more airy.

Into the Ice Cream Maker

Yes, you do need an ice cream maker for this recipe.

I use (and love) a Cuisinart ice cream maker with a freezer bowl. Mine was a gift, and it's one of my most-used kitchen appliances.

Freezer bowl ice cream makers include a bowl that needs to be completely frozen (usually for at least a day) before you begin churning your ice cream.

My ice cream freezer bowl basically lives in my freezer all summer. It only emerges long enough to churn ice cream, be cleaned, and be placed back on its shelf in the freezer.

If you simply cannot wait on a freezer bowl to freeze, or have zero room in your freezer, you can also buy compressor-style ice cream machines that will (quite dangerously) let you have ice cream on demand at a moment's notice.

Freeze the Chocolate Mint Ice Cream

Your ice cream maker will do a really good job making the ice cream cold, creamy, and delicious.

But it will come out a little too soft, like soft serve ice cream that's started to melt.

Pour the mint chocolate ice cream into a (preferably shallow) container, and let it harden for a few more hours.

When it feels firm to the touch, scoop it out, take a bite, and giggle with chocolate-induced happiness.

Hungry for MORE CHOCOLATE? Try this salted bourbon chocolate pie!