Buttermint Ice Cream with White Chocolate

By Foodiewife

Have you ever grabbed those mints that are individually wrapped, on your way out of a restaurant? The ones that melt in your mouth, and have that taste of butter and mint? Well, this ice cream has captured that flavor. This recipes comes from the Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream at Home Recipe book, and it's a winner. It's different from (what I thought was) my favorite egg custard based ice cream. There are a few "secret" ingredients that makes this ice cream creamy, rich and addicting.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 3 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/8 tsp tumeric (easily found in the spice aisle)
• 1-1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 ounces white chocolate, chopped (don't use chips, as they won't melt properly)
• 1 Tablespoon Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor* (buy online at Amazon)
• 1 tsp. pure peppermint extract**
• or use 8 drops of natural butter flavor
• or use 3-4 drops pure peppermint essential oil

Preparation

Step 1

PREP: Whisk about 2 Tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch and set aside, to make a smooth slurry.

Whisk the cream cheese, salt and turmeric in a medium bowl until smooth.

Prepare an ice bath, in a large bowl with plenty of ice. Have a 1-gallon Ziplog Freezer Bag ready.

COOK: Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar and corn syrup in a 4-Quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 4 minutes (this is important).

Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry.

Bring the mixture back to a boil, over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened. About 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese, until smooth. Carefully pour the mixture into the ziploc bag and submerge the sealed back into the ice bath. Let stand for about 30 minutes, until chilled, adding more ice if necessary.

FREEZE: When the ice cream is almost ready, melt the white chocolate in a double-boiler (or a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water--don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl).

Carefully cut off a bottom corner of the ziploc bag and squeeze the mixture into the hole of the ice cream maker, while it is turned on. Drop the butter and mint flavor into the opening.

Slowly drizzle the melted chocolate into the ice cream; it will form into chocolate flecks. Magic! Continue to churn the ice cream, according to your ice cream maker's directions.

Pack the ice cream into a storage container, press a sheet of parchment paper directly on top and seal with an air tight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer for at least four hours.

To serve, allow to soften for about 15 minutes.

What a treat!