Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (gluten:free : primal : grain-free : refined sweetener-free)

During these hot summer months, we've been enjoying some homemade ice cream.  And I don't feel guilty about it since ice cream is a superfood.  My latest ice cream experiment was a resounding success: vanilla chocolate chip ice cream!  The trick to making the sure the chocolate chips aren't like super-hard bits that ruin the overall texture is to chop them up into very small pieces.

This recipe makes a rather large batch of ice cream.  If your ice cream maker is on the small side, you may need to reduce the amounts a bit.


Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Makes about 7 cups of ice cream

• 3 cups cream, preferably raw and from pastured cows
• 1 cup whole milk, preferably raw and from pastured cows 
• 3/4 cup raw mild-flavored honey, or use half Grade B maple syrup and half raw mild honey*
• 4 raw egg yolks**
• 1 Tb plus 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
• 1/2 to 3/4 cups mini chocolate chips***

1. Use a food processor or chopper to chop up the chocolate chips.  Stop chopping before they start turning to powder, but you do want them to be nice and small. If you don't have a machine to use, I'd recommend shaving chocolate off a bar of chocolate and then chopping it finely.
2. Combine the cream, milk, honey, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt in a blender.  Blend for a minute or two to thoroughly combine everything. Do NOT add the chocolate during this step.
3. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions for your maker.  I use the Kitchen-Aid ice cream maker attachment, and it works great! If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can instead follow these instructions to make ice cream without a machine.
4. When the mixture starts to set up and get thick, add the chopped chocolate.  It took about 10-15 minutes for the ice cream in my Kitchen-Aid ice cream maker attachment to get to the right consistency for this.  If you are making ice cream without a machine, it will take several hours before the mixture gets thick enough to add the chocolate.

*Combining maple syrup and honey together somehow results in a very neutral flavor; the maple syrup and honey flavors seem to cancel each other out.  It also tastes great with all honey, which makes it more GAPS-friendly.
**Any time you'll be consuming raw eggs, make sure you trust your egg supplier.  To prevent salmonella, make sure to wash the eggs before you crack them.
***I used dairy-free, soy-free chocolate chips, but they are still not GAPS-legal. To make this recipe GAPS-legal, you may have to omit the chocolate chips or try to make your own using honey as a sweetener.