No-Churn Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

It is great to have an ice cream maker at home if you’re a big ice cream lover. Homemade ice cream, straight out of the machine, is something that is hard to beat with storebought products. It’s also fun because it is so easy to customize the ice cream with your favorite mix-ins, whether you like to add crushed up Oreo cookies or a swirl of caramel sauce. There are some ice cream recipes out there that you can make without an ice cream maker and still get outstanding results. One recipe that comes to mind uses sweetened condensed milk as a base and has whipped heavy cream folded into it, which adds the air that is normally incorporated into ice cream by an ice cream mixer. It’s easy to make, works out extremely well and, of course, uses no special equipment of any kind.

No-Churn Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is this type of recipe. It starts out with a mixture of sweetened condensed milk, chocolate sauce, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Heavy cream is beaten to soft peaks and folded into the base. The resulting ice cream has an almost mousse-like consistency that just melts when it hits your tongue. It has a light chocolate flavor with just enough mint added to it. It is light and creamy, and it is never too hard to scoop straight out of the freezer. I have used homemade chocolate sauce when making this ice cream, but it is honestly just as good with a good quality chocolate or chocolate fudge sauce to use as flavoring (because you know you have some for homemade sundaes).

I typically fold small chocolate chips or coarsely chopped dark chocolate into this ice cream before freezing it. If you have mint chocolate baking pieces, which are sometimes available in grocery stores, or chopped mint chocolate bars, they will work even better and get a little more mint into your finished product.

No-Churn Chocolate Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
1 15-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chocolate sauce/syrup
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup chocolate chips or mint chocolate candies, chopped

In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, chocolate syrup, vanilla extract and peppermint extract until smooth and well-combined.
In another large bowl, beat whipping cream to soft peaks. Working in two or three additions, fold the whipped whipping cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture, making sure the cream is well incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.
Transfer mixture to a 9×5-inch loaf pan or other freezer-safe dish. Cover with plastic wrap, place in the freezer and chill until firm, at least 2 hours.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.