Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Homemade Mint Ice Cream (including a dairy-free, GAPS-legal option)

Store-bought ice cream could never compete with the nutrition and taste of homemade ice cream.   Making your own ice cream is easy, and you can even do it without an ice cream maker.

This mint ice cream is one of my family's favorite flavors.  The mint flavor is so deliciously cool and refreshing. It tastes wonderful by itself, and it also pairs well with macaroons or fresh strawberries.

Homemade Mint Ice Cream
  • 2 cups cream, preferably raw and definitely not ultrapasteurized
  • 1 cup whole milk, preferably raw
  • 3 egg yolks
  • pinch of celtic sea salt
  • 2/3 cup raw honey* OR 1/3 cup honey & 1/3 cup maple syrup**
  • 1/2 to 1 Tb mint extract (use more or less depending on how minty you want the ice cream to taste; I think 3/4 Tb is perfect)
  • 1 tsp spirulina powder (optional)***
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix very well.
  2. Pour 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.
*If your raw honey is very crystallized, you may want to set it over a bowl of warm water so it will be thin enough to incorporate well.  With my blender, I have no problem even with honey that is fairly thick.
**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.  If you are on the GAPS diet, though, use all honey and it will still taste great.
***Spirulina powder will give the ice cream a beautiful green color (thanks to my friend Linda for this idea).  
****To make this ice cream GAPS-legal, simply omit the spirulina powder and substitute full-fat coconut milk for the cream and milk.  Using coconut milk results in a slightly different texture, but it is still delicious.

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist, Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

18 comments:

Katie said...

Yum! Great idea with the spirulina. When I make my mint ice cream I just go out to the garden and pick a bunch of pepperemint and speramint leaves. So mine's a little green but not very.

Sarah Smith said...

Mmm, that sounds delicious, Katie. I'm planning to grow some mint this year and was wondering if that would work well. Does it make the ice cream chunky at all, or is it still nice and smooth?

Mary @ Mary's Nest said...

Wow! You have a number of good recipes today. Looking forward to trying this as the weather is heating up here in Texas...and I have mint growing!

Thanks again!

Love,

Mary

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist said...

My hubbie makes a killer chocolate ice cream using coconut milk. I'll bet it would be fantastic with a scoop of mint ice cream along with it! ;0
Thanks for sharing at Monday Mania this week!

Shu Han said...

can you do that without an icecream maker? this sounds just awesome!!

Sarah Smith said...

Yes, Shu Han! Follow the instructions shown here to make it without a machine:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/making-ice-crea-1/

Laura said...

Oh this looks delicious!!!

Soccy said...

What kind & where do you buy your Spirulina?

Sarah Smith said...

I buy spirulina powder in the bulk section of our natural foods co-op.

Erin said...

so where do you get cream that's not ultrapasturized? that's the only kind in stores where i live... and raw would be even harder to locate, i'm sure.

Sarah Smith said...

We buy raw cream directly from our raw milk farmer. I have seen some cream that was not ultrapasteurized at some grocery stores. I think maybe Kroger brand?

Erin said...

we do have a kroger - i will look more thoroughly there, thanks. i think it's odd that the organic kinds of cream, half and half, etc are ultra-pasturized...

Christine @ Butter Belle said...

Hi Sarah, I have started RRARFing as well. What is it about the ice cream that raises metabolism? Is it the cream and sweetener? If I don't have any ice cream made up, would a milkshake made with cream, eggs, fruit and sweetener do the trick as well?

Sarah Smith said...

Hi Christine,
The milkshake should do the trick since it has all the same ingredients as ice cream! Have you seen this post about how similar ice cream is to breatmilk? It is amazing!
http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2012/01/could-ice-cream-be-superfood.html

Samantha said...

This turned out absolutely delicious! Tastes just like the most delicious store bought kind, but so much healthier. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

Mama Tina said...

Love this! We make it twice a month :) We use chlorophyll instead of spirulina and the color is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I need to use organic stevia leaf powder. Any idea how much to use or if it will even taste good? I'm also going to use organic vanilla instead of mint. Any thoughts on this?
Thank you.

Sarah Smith said...

Sorry, I've never used stevia in ice cream so I have no idea how much to use.