I’m officially obsessed with making my own Ice Cream! It’s so fun & easy. There are SO many flavor combinations to try!

If you don’t know this about me – one of my dreams is to start an ice cream 🍦 shop called Morozovo’s because the Ukrainian word for Ice cream is морозиво, which is pronounced in English like our last name just with an extra “o” on the end! I really (like.. really, really) love ice cream & feel like it’s a calling for our family!

Last time, we made a delicious homemade Strawberry ice cream, using fresh Strawberries! This time, we are making mint chocolate chip ice cream using FRESH mint from our garden.

Our first step was to go out into the garden and collect some fresh mint. Athena was my big helper in this step & had a lot of fun with it. She said she felt like she was in a wedding carrying the “bouquet” of mint.

After we collected enough mint, we sat down together on the swing and picked off all of the leaves and placed them in this mini colander to be cleaned once we were back in the kitchen.

We collected and picked a good amount, then took our colander inside to clean & roughly cut the mint. I find using kitchen scissors easiest for this.

We then poured our pint of heavy whipping cream into the Dutch oven pot on the stove, threw in the chopped mint, and heated just until hot to let that flavor really begin to release into the cream. Do not overheat, or it will not whip as well for you. Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature, pour into container with lid, and let cold steep in the refrigerator for at the very least 12 hours.

After cold steeping in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours (the longer it steeps, the stronger the mint flavor will be), strain mint leaves by using cheese cloth over your Kitchen Aid Mixing Bowl.

Whip the cream with the whisk attachment until you have a Whipped cream consistency. Hand mixers would probably work even better, if you have those.

Once Whipped, add in 1 can of Ukrainian Sweetened Condensed Milk & whip again. I imagine American Condensed Milk will work if you don’t have access to a European market, but the Ukrainian one just tastes SO much better {see note}!!! Finally, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract & whip again one final time.

{NOTE: after comparing Ukrainian to American Condensed Milk with my тато, we found that Ukrainian Condensed Milk has at least double the amount of sugar as American, which is why it noticeably tastes better than American Condensed Milk. With this difference, you will have different results if using American Condensed Milk. You may have to add in sugar, but since I have not done it this way, I am unsure of when or how much sugar to add.}

Gently fold in mini chocolate chips until all mixed together really evenly. I used semi-sweet because that was all that was available in mini, but feel free to use whatever you like here. Milk, dark, mini, chunk – it’s your ice cream, make it exactly your way!

Once all blended together, pour into a Loaf pan & place into freezer. The first day is good, but the second day is even better so if you have enough self-control, let it freeze overnight for best results. However if you need to try it right away, same. Just make sure to save enough to try the next day too!

Once it freezes & you are ready to eat, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to let it soften up a tiny bit to make scooping easier. Scoop into bowl or cone & enjoy!

The flavor of the fresh mint in the ice cream is SO good! Plus I was super happy to use up some more of my mint in my garden! All of the kids agreed that the homemade Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream was way better than store bought – even Sasha who has never liked a store-bought mint chocolate chip before. She was the first to ask for seconds!

I hope you like it as much as us!

Ingredients

• 1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
• Fresh mint (I used probably 75-100 leaves)
• 1 can Ukrainian Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

• 1 – MINT: Gather, wash, & cut mint.
• 2 – HEAT: Pour Heavy Whipping Cream into pot on stove, using medium low heat. Add mint leaves. Stir constantly until just hot, then pour into container & let cool to room temperature. Once cool, refrigerate 12+ hours.
• 3 – STRAIN mint leaves from cream using cheese cloth over your mixing bowl. Discard leaves.
• 4 – WHIP the cream into a Whipped cream consistency. Add in 1 can Ukrainian Condensed Milk, whip again. Add in 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract, whip again. {🍦Begin at this step if NOT using mint🍦}.
• 5 – FOLD in chocolate chips gently & evenly throughout the cream mixture.
• 6 – POUR mixture into Loaf pan & freeze overnight.
• 7 – ENJOY! 🍦

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov