Mint or Basil Ice Cream
Published June 30, 2014
- Total Time
- 25 minutes, plus several hours’ cooling, chilling and freezing
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 cup mint or basil leaves, cleaned and dried
⅔ cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
6 large egg yolks
Nutritional analysis per serving
17 grams carbs; 166 milligrams cholesterol; 265 calories; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 21 grams fat; 1 gram trans fat; 1 gram fiber; 60 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein; 16 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a food processor, pulse together mint or basil leaves and sugar until pulverized and bright green.
- Step 2
In a small pot, simmer heavy cream, milk, herb sugar and salt until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the hot cream into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream.
- Step 3
Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer). Remove from heat and allow custard to steep for 30 minutes.
- Step 4
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Step 5
Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed.
Private Notes
Comments
Made this with basil - absolutely fantastic! It's intensely flavored, so you only need a small scoop or two. Have been serving it with a simple sauce of blackberries, lemon zest, and sugar.
If you’re a fan of basil and chocolate together…I used the fudge ripple recipe from David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop” and used it to make a basil fudge ripple ice cream. Just UNREAL.
This has become my go-to for our favorite summer desert. We pair it with grilled, in-season peaches. If you want to go fancy drizzle a little balsamic over it but just the basil ice cream and grilled peaches will be an impressive combo for friends and family.
Basil ice cream is the taste of summer. Making this again to serve with grilled peaches as recommended by Shala.
I made this with mint and disliked the oxidized, almost fishy flavor produced by heating the mint for so long. I do not recommend this method of adding mint flavor to ice cream.
Incredibly delicious. I think people are running into this “earthy” flavor because they are over blending basil, which causes it to be bitter. I was very careful to not over-blend so I didn’t taste anything earthy at all.