As promised, here is the link to the Super Simple Homemade Ice Cream we made at Smucker’s. You don’t need an ice cream maker to make it and it calls for very few ingredients, so I’d say it lives up to its name! The basic recipe is for vanilla, but using the tricks I learned at Smucker’s plus some tricks of my own, I made a mint flavored version with melt-in-your-mouth chunks of chocolate.
Okay, so the tricks. The first one is easy, and that’s swapping out some of the vanilla extract for mint. I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of peppermint extract and a little vanilla to tone it down. You can vary the amounts of extract, but make sure you buy peppermint flavor as opposed to “mint” which is spearmint and which will make your ice cream taste like toothpaste. Trust me. I’ve done it.
Now here’s the best trick and one you can use for any kind of ice cream that calls for chunks of chocolate. You know how store-bought ice cream has the kind of chocolate chunks that melt in your mouth with the ice cream? This trick gives regular chocolate that melt-in-your-mouth quality. The trick is to melt the chocolate, add a little olive oil, spread it on a rimmed plate, freeze, then chop. The ratio I used was 2 teaspoons of olive oil to 3.5 oz of chocolate. I used Lindt 50% (mild dark), but I think I could have even gone a step up and used 70%. I also tested with 3.5 oz of dark chocolate chips. The melted chocolate chip and oil mixture was good too, but not quite as palate pleasing as the Lindt. So if you have access to some smooth chocolate or one that you know melts pretty quickly already such as Lindt or Dove, use that. But chips will work in a pinch.
Here’s the recipe with the mint.
If you don’t care for mint, make any flavor you want! Here’s a photo of the ice cream I made at Smucker’s. It’s vanilla with chocolate chips, graham crackers, marshmallows and brownie chunks.
- 7 oz dark chocolate (2 3.5 oz Lindt mild dark or 70%)
- 4 teaspoons light olive oil or vegetable oil OR cococnut oil
- 1 (14 oz) can of Eagle Brand condensed milk
- 1/2 cup half & half cream
- 1/4 scant teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract plus an extra 1/2 teaspoon if needed
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- green food coloring or a few drops of yellow and blue
- 2 cups whipping cream
- Melt your chocolate in the microwave using the 50% power setting and stirring at 30 second intervals. Stir the olive oil into the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture onto two plates lined with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Put plates of melted chocolate in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until solid.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together your condensed milk, half & half, salt and flavorings. Add a little blue and yellow to make green, or just add a little green coloring if you have that.
- In a second bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture.Now take your chocolate out of the freezer, peel away the foil and cut the chocolate into chunks. Stir the chunks into the ice cream. Divide equally among two small plastic containers or pour into a loaf pan and cover with foil. Freeze overnight. Makes about 6 to 8 servings. It's rich so you might want to portion it out among small, pretty, glasses.
Also, feel free to add more oil if you feel the chocolate isn't soft enough with 4 teaspoons. 4 teaspoons worked perfectly for me.
OOOO I love mint and chocolate and ice cream!!!!
Thanks for the wonderful hint about making “melt-in-your-mouth” chocolate chunks. I would have never thought to combine olive oil with the chocolate.
never seen it that way.
would love to try this.
i eat a lot of ice cream, its gross really
and mint is my favorite.
That’s pretty neat :)! I have an ice cream maker (which I don’t use often enough) but this could come in quite handy if I’m away from home :). And thanks for the awesome tip about the chocolate. It’s one of those things that when you read it you’re like “well that just makes so much sense, why didn’t I think of that? ” :).. or maybe I just like to make myself feel better :).
You can also use coconut oil mixed with the chocolate. If you use this combo with an ice cream maker and pour/drizzle the chocolate in towards the end of the churning time it hardens on contact (due to the coconut oil – kind of like Magic Shell!) with the cold ice cream and will make chocolate ‘flakes’ throughout. Yummy!
Thanks for posting this! I hate when I try ice cream out and the chocolate chunks are hard and don’t melt in your mouth! Sometimes they are grainy and the ice cream is expensive!!!! My favorite ice cream is Kilwin’s key lime pie ice cream. I think I can make my own now!!!
Maybe I’ll try making Chocolate Chocolate Chip. 🙂 Like I said, I don’t like the taste or smell of Eagle Sweetened Condensed Milk, but maybe this will change my mind.
Louise, give it a try! If you’re not in the mood for mint, try adding melted chocolate. Adding flavors really helps cover up the condensed milk flavor.
I was thinking I’d use chocolate extract, which I need to buy. Either that or I’ll try something like swirled Biscoff Spread, which I have, and chocolate chunks or Oreo cookies. I also have Strawberry Extract and frozen strawberries. And, Coconut Extract plus dried coconut. I love coconut ice cream, but I’m afraid I’d make something tasting like suntan lotion and never want to eat coconut ice cream again.
I know that Ben & Jerry do not use Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. 🙂 If this is a success, maybe I can recreate the Festivus flavor that Ben & Jerry made several years ago. Give me a couple of days.
I should forward this to my husband. He is the ice cream man and is just fine with sweetened condensed milk.
The tip on how to make chocolate chunks that aren’t rock hard is worth a “mint” to me! I’ve always wondered about that, and have stayed away from home made ice cream with chocolate chips or chunks for that reason. Thanks for this great piece of information.
Can I follow all these step and still use my ice cream maker?
Stacey, I haven’t tried it, but I’m almost positive it would work! I’d love to hear your results if you try it.
Lisa, I hope you like it!
Sue, I’d like to hear the ice cream man’s assessment.
Louise, Nicole made a chocolate version at Smucker’s and I believe she just mixed in a bunch of Smuckers chocolate fudge topping. The chocolate extract experiment will be interesting. I’m with you on the coconut extract!
Yes you can churn it in a ice cream maker. I’ve made a number of recipes for ice cream with condensed milk and I’ve always churned them in the ice cream maker. Amanda at http://www.amandascookin.com has recently discovered that method, too, and we both kind of prefer it with condensed milk. Makes a creamier ice cream.
I made the ice cream last night according to your recipe, but all of my chocolate chunks sunk to the bottom of the container. Is there a trick to getting the chocolate to stay suspended through the ice cream? I probably should have stirred the mixture when it was partially frozen, but it was too late to stay up and wait for that and by morning all of the chunks were on the bottom. Depsite that, it tastes delicious!
Suzy, I’ve never had that happen, but I do tend to add the chocolate chunks last. Based on your experience, I’m going to make a note to add the chunks last.
I have the same issue as Suzy. I made chocolate chocolate chip ice cream just before dinner using Hershey’s Special Dark Syrup, as that’s what I had. I made Lindt 70% chunks and must have had them in the freezer too long as they were rock hard to cut up. Right after I added them I knew I had a sinking problem. The stuff is almost soft frozen now and I just gave it a stir so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. I probably could have made more chocolate chunks for it too. But the semi-frozen stuff is pretty tasty. 🙂
This sounds so simple for homemade ice cream. I’m amazed you don’t need any special ingredients or equipment. Is the texture similar to regular store-bought ice cream?