Have you ever had a mint brownie? I’m a sucker for that chewy brownie with the buttery, refreshingly minty frosting. It does not sound like butter and mint would mix particularly well, but they really, really do. The trick is to not go too heavy on either flavor. A little bit of each goes a long way!
The other thing that makes this ice cream great is the brownie. We didn’t want big hunks of overdone brownie chunks that leave you licking brownie residue off of your teeth forever, so we decided to try chunks of brownie pudding instead. If you haven’t had brownie pudding, you should definitely fix that! It is easy to make, and is basically like a big, almost under cooked pan of goodness that is somewhere between a molten lava cake and a brownie. Normally it is served with ice cream, but we took it a step further and served it in the ice cream itself. It makes for the perfect fudgy bite to add a little more excitement to the flavor and texture of the ice cream. You will never regret making this ice cream, unless you eat the whole thing yourself I guess. Even then, you may not!
Buttermint Brownie Pudding
Butter makes everything better…even this ice cream!
Ingredients
- Buttermint Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp mint extract (we actually used half mint half peppermint)
1/4 tsp butter extract
A few drops green food coloring
- Chocolate Ice Cream
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 cup whole milk
1 cup cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt
Directions
- Prepare your brownie pudding ahead of time, allowing it to cool to room temperature.
- Buttermint Ice Cream
- Heat the 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 cup milk on low in a medium saucepan until it reaches 140° F, stirring occasionally. While the custard heats, using an electric mixer to whisk the 2 large eggs in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- While the cream is still heating, slowly add the 3/4 cup sugar into the eggs, whisking thoroughly to make sure the mixture doesn’t become grainy.
- After the cream reaches the target temperature, gradually pour it into the egg and sugar mixture, again whisking each time the cream is added to avoid cooking the eggs.
- Pour the entire mixture back into the medium saucepan and heat it to 170° F. Once you take it off of the heat, add in the mint and butter extracts and stir. (This is where you can add food coloring if you want).
- Now pour the mixture back into the mixing bowl. Cover and chill for 1 hour or up to 3 hours.
- When ready, make in your ice cream maker based on the maker’s instructions.
- Move the ice cream into a temporary container while you wait for the chocolate ice cream to run through the ice cream maker.
- Chocolate Ice Cream
- This ice cream is the base chocolate ice cream we always use. Melt the 4 oz chocolate in a double broiler. Once completely melted, slowly add the 1 cup whole milk in small amounts, whisking each time you add cream until color is uniform. Set it aside while you make the rest of the ice cream base.
- Heat the 1 cup heavy whipping cream on low in a medium saucepan until it reaches 140° F, stirring occasionally. While the custard heats, using an electric mixer to whisk the 2 large eggs in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- While the cream is still heating, slowly add the 1 cup sugar into the eggs, whisking thoroughly to make sure the mixture doesn’t become grainy.
After the cream reaches the target temperature, gradually pour it into the egg and sugar mixture, again whisking each time the cream is added to avoid cooking the eggs. - Pour the entire mixture back into the medium saucepan and heat it to 170° F.
- Now pour the mixture back into the mixing bowl and add the 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and the dash of salt. Add the chocolate mix and whisk until combined and uniform.
- Cover and chill for 1 hour or up to 3 hours.
- When ready, make in your ice cream maker based on the maker’s instructions.
- Layering the Ice Cream
- Get the buttermint out of the freezer. Put a layer of it on the bottom of your desired container. Sprinkle chunks of brownie on top of that.
- Add a layer of the chocolate ice cream on top of that. Sprinkle more pieces of brownie pudding on top of the chocolate layer.
- Keep repeating these layers (adding bits of brownie pudding in between each flavor) until you have reached the top of your container. I sprinkled a little bit of brownie pudding on top just for fun.
- Place your ice cream in the freezer until hardened (usually at least 4 hours)
