No Churn Junior Mint Chocolate Ice Cream checks a lot of boxes: chocolate lovers, mint lovers and movie candy lovers! This might just become your new favorite no churn ice cream recipe. It is definitely mine.
½cup1 1/2 oz sifted cocoa powder OR 4-6 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate (See Note)
1 14ozcan sweetened condensed milk
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
¼teaspoonkosher salt
several drops mint oilto taste (mint extract is less potent, and you can probably use about 1/2 teaspoon of the extract. Still: use to taste) Try to get the "mintiness" at about the same level as the candy, otherwise the chocolate base won't seem minty once you bite into a candy.
most of a 10.5 oz box Junior Mint candies(See Instructions for details)
Instructions
If Using Cocoa Powder
In a saucepan, whisk the cocoa powder into the heavy cream and heat until hot but not steaming, about 140F.
Remove from the heat, cool, cover and chill until cold.
If Using Bittersweet Chocolate
Chop the chocolate into small pieces (or use bittersweet chips) and place into a bowl.
Heat the cream until it just comes to a boil. Pour over the chocolate and allow to sit for a minute.
Whisk until all the chocolate is smoothly incorporated into the cream. Cool, cover and chill until cold.
To Make the Ice Cream
Place all ingredients except for the candy into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Whip on medium speed until the cream just starts to thicken a bit and then increase speed to high.
Whip until the whisk leaves tracks in the cream and it is about the consistency of cake batter. It will mound slightly before smoothing out. Don't whip it until you get any kind of peaks.
Fold as much of the Junior Mints into the base as you want. I went with almost the whole box which, while delicious might have been a bit excessive.
Spread your ice cream base in a freezer-safe container, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the ice cream, and freeze until firm enough to scoop, at least six hours or overnight.
Enjoy at your leisure. And I won't judge you if you don't want to share.
Notes
You can whisk the cocoa powder into the cream without heating it, but you will still need to let it hang out in the fridge overnight if you want the base to be super creamy. Making the ice cream with cocoa powder right away will give you good flavor, but there will be a hint of chalkiness to your ice cream for the first few days. Give the cocoa a chance to "bloom" by whisking it with hot cream and then chilling so your ice cream will be creamy right from the start. If you use bittersweet chocolate, your ice cream will set up a bit more firmly than the cocoa powder kind. Both kinds will be delicious (I've made both), so it's up to you!