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MINT AND KEY LIME ICE CREAM

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I had loads of lime at home and some really good fresh organic mint leaves. I was thinking of what I could do with them then something happened. I started shaking like a chicken that had fallen into hot water then I heard a loud voice from foodie heaven saying, “combine those flavours in an ice cream.”

Okay, that’s not exactly how it happened.
But I just feel like I got the iciest creamiest foodie revelation ever. I could put a price tag on this because it is oh so good! It is the perfect mix of tart and sweet. All the freshness from the mint and lime juice just give it an incredible taste. Mr N almost cried for joy while eating it (well not literally.) But he is not an ice cream fan and he loved it! So if you have an ice cream hater around you, this is the one recipe that will turn hate to love.

After having my ‘dramatic revelation’, I explored the internet to see if anyone had combined mint and lime in an ice cream. I saw mint ice cream, I saw key lime ice cream but I never saw an ice cream with both. So I decided to create foodie history.

Key limes are the very small limes. Their flavour is so intense. However, if you can only find the larger kind of limes, by all means please, use them. If you want to make ice cream and you you don’t want/have these flavours, this recipe is still perfect for you. Simply omit the limes and mint.
Look, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, don’t worry yaself (yourself). I don’t have one myself, yet I could achieve the perfect ice cream texture with my freezer. I’ll show you how.

I can not wait to show you how to make this!

MINT AND KEY LIME ICE CREAM RECIPE

Prep: 20 mins
Inactive time: 6 hours
Yield: a quart of ice cream

Ingredients

8 egg yolks
2 cups of half and half (half cream and half milk)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups of 2 % milk (or whole liquid milk)
1 and a third cups of sugar
20 mint leaves
20 key limes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

That’s really all you need! Directions:

Combine milk, heavy cream and half and half in a pot and put on medium heat, stirring from time to time. Note: If you don’t have half and half, you could use 3 cups of milk and 3 cups of cream. 

As it heats up, put in your fresh mint leaves. Oh la la!

Now while keeping an eye on the above mixture, in a bowl put in all 8 egg yolks. Some of my egg yolks mixed together so you can only see 4 distinct ones here.

Dump in your sugar.

With a whisk or an electric mixer, give that a good mix until it thickens up. While beating this keep stirring your milk and cream from time to time so it doesn’t burn.

I don’t know why this picture is repeating itself. Ha.

Okay now pour your heated milk and cream mixture into a blender. Note that it should get hot but it shouldn’t boil. Blend the hell out of it so the mint leaves can be broken and all that minty goodness can be in the milk.

Strain the mixture back into the pot.

Now cut all your cute little limes in twos.

Squeeze them into a strainer by hand or with the help of a squeezer. As you do this, put your milk mixture on medium heat and stir every now and then. Note that it shouldn’t boil over.

Remember your beaten egg yolks? Take a cup or two of your milk mixture and pour into the yolk and sugar mixture while beating continuously. This tampers the mixture so the eggs don’t cook and curdle up when poured into the hot milk and cream.

Now pour that eggy goodness into the milky goodness. Stir continuously.

Add in your freshly squeezed lime juice and vanilla extract (optional). Oh boy, this is where the tasting begins.

Keep stirring until the mixture thickens up. This is the custard that will later become ice cream. It is ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Pour all that goodness into a bowl.

Cover it with plastic paper. The plastic should touch the custard so it doesn’t form skin when cold.

Put all that goodness in a fridge and let it cool down completely. I left mine overnight but you don’t have to. When it is completely cold, take off the plastic. The mixture will look really thick.

Give it a good mix. It will lighten up but don’t worry it will get really thick as you freeze.

If you have an ice cream maker, at this point, freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. But if your kitchen ministry is still growing like mine, use a freezer. This is what you will do: Pop your custard into the freezer and after every 15 minutes, give it a good stir (and lick some). It will thicken up gradually and will get the right texture. If you just leave it to freeze without stirring, it won’t be like the ice cream cream we all love. 
So keep stirring!

When it gets to this consistency, stop stirring. Ice cream is ready!

Give yourself a pat on the back. You did it! Now get a scoop or two for yourself and enjoy the goodness of ice cream.

Note:
When the ice cream stays in the freezer, it may harden up more but that shouldn’t scare you. Simply take it out to room temperature a few minutes before serving for easy scooping.

Printable recipe

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…”

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Comments

  1. No I have a reason to get out of bed tomorrow morning. Most Saturdays I sleep in because its my day off and the only day I sleep pass 5:30 am. But tomorrow I will not be long faced and grumpy like I do most mornings. I will be all smiles because I will be having ice cream for breakfast, yes u got me right, ice cream for breakfast. I am doing this tonight after work. I am sure I will have creamy dreams all night and tomorrow night I will have SWEET dreams. Thank you so much for ths wonderful recipe. U are awesome. Stay blessed

    Reply

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