Mint Stracciatella (Chocolate Chip)

After a bad experience with large chocolate chips in a mint chocolate chip batch, I tried making one with fudge ripple instead.  However, the David Lebovitz fudge ripple recipe is not very good and no one liked it much in the ice cream.  So, I decided to try a different tactic and do what Italian gelato makers call stracciatella, where you drip melted chocolate into the nearly frozen ice cream while the machine is running.  This worked out great!  Lots of little chocolate bits in every bite, and no big frozen chunks to break your teeth on.  I think I will always do chocolate chip this way from now on.

Also, since things taste mintier when they're green, I added a few drops of green food coloring.  Beautiful!

Mint Stracciatella Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups low fat half-and-half
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsps cornstarch
• 4 tbsps (2 oz) cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• big bunch of mint leaves, washed (you can leave them on the stems)
• a few drops of green food coloring
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate

Instructions

1. Put cream cheese and salt in a larger bowl and set it aside to soften up.
2. Mix about 1/4 cup half-and-half with cornstarch in a small bowl until fully dissolved.  Set aside.
3. Whisk remaining half-and-half, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan.  Bring to a rolling boil and then allow to boil for 4 minutes.
4. Add mint and remove from heat. Allow to steep for 30 minutes.
5. Strain to remove mint and then return to pot.
6. Add cornstarch slurry while whisking.  Heat, whisking frequently, until it boils.  Mixture should thicken up.
7. Add xanthan gum while whisking.
8. Pour mixture over cream cheese and whisk to combine. Whisk in food coloring. At this point, if there are lumps, you should put it in a blender and make it smooth.
9. Pour mixture into a ziploc freezer bag and cool in an ice bath, or put in the refrigerator to sit overnight.
10. Freeze in an ice cream maker. While ice cream is freezing, melt chocolate, either in a microwave or in a metal bowl over a simmering pot of water. When ice cream is nearly done, drip melted chocolate slowly into the running ice cream maker. Let it run for another minute to freeze and break up the chocolate.