Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I love ice cream. It is definitely my favorite dessert by far. It's always confused me, though, since I hate pretty much anything else related to the cold. For some reason, though, ice cream is the one cold thing I actually enjoy. Maybe because it's what you tend to eat when it's hot out and I live for the warmer months...but I have no problem eating ice cream every day all winter too. I wonder if I'll ever figure it out.

To appease my love for ice cream along with my love for creating desserts, I bought an ice cream maker off Amazon a little while ago. Eager to try it out, I decided to make some mint chocolate chip ice cream from the Cuisinart recipe that came with the ice cream maker. It turned out pretty good, a little icy because I think I added a little too much half and half and a little minty because I added a little too much extract, but for my first attempt, I thought it turned out pretty well. The recipe is fine, by the way...any issues I had with it were due to human error. I've made similar recipes from the book since and they've been perfect.



Low Fat Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, from the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet: "Ice Creams, Sorbets, and More!"

1 cup skim milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups fat free half and half
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
4 oz bittersweet chocolate candy bar, chopped into small, uneven chips
a few drops green food color

1. In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is totally dissolved, about 2 minutes on low speed.
2. Stir in half and half and peppermint extract.
3. Put mixture in ice cream maker and let mix until thickened.
4. Add chocolate and food coloring when appropriate for your model maker.
5. Take mixture out of maker when done and store in freezer.