I really hate “getting to know you” questions, but I really really hate the ones that hinge on “favorites.” I am someone who just does not have favorites. Of anything really – color, animal, etc. But when it comes to food? Forget about it. Picking a favorite food is a ridiculous question. A favorite pizza? A favorite fruit? A favorite restaurant? Who has concise answers to these questions???
All this to say, if you were to ask me my favorite ice cream, I can only answer that with a very specific list of answers, all in no particular order, but at various levels of abstractness:
- Pavarotti from Sebastian Joe’s
- Savannah Buttermint from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
- Pumpkin Bread from Salt & Straw
- Buckeye Blueberry Swirl Ice Cream from the Jeni’s ice cream cookbook
- Any ice cream from Bub’s Burgers, eaten on their patio in the summer
- Any ice cream served with pie while in Door County
- Keks gelato from any gelato stand in Germany, but specifically the shop in Koenigstein (I think about this ice cream frequently, and it’s not talked about enough on the Internet, but this girl describes it as cookies and cream but with chocolate chip cookies instead of Oreo)
- A dirt cup from Ritter’s Frozen Custard, even more specifically from that one day in Kindergarten when my parents let us have ice cream for dinner
- A concrete mixer with peanut butter and Reese’s, halfway through a Midwestern road trip
So, you see… I have a lot of opinions about ice cream. But, if we’re just focusing on the ice creams from this list, I realized I moved away from a city where I can get some of them, and I moved to a city where I can get some of the others. I really do love the Savannah Buttermint – it’s only available in Jeni’s scoop shops, and I have (on a few occasions) got my whole serving of just Savannah Buttermint. If you know me, you know that at an ice cream shop that offers three flavors in their standard size, me getting three scoops of the same flavor is a major deal!
But it occurred to me the other day, as the weather was warming up, that I have the ability to try and make this at home! I don’t have my ice cream maker up here in Minnesota, but I found a really good no-churn ice cream last year. Then I looked up the recipe for Jeni’s Savannah Buttermint, and I found that the secret is Peppermint OIL and butter extract. I didn’t even realize there were baking oils!!
After a quick Amazon order, this recipe really came together. It’s so incredibly simple, and I have to say… it really nailed the flavor! It will tide me over til my next visit to a Jeni’s Scoop Shop. I’ve been considering, now that I’m back in the Midwest, it might be fun to visit the original shop in Ohio sometime!
Next time, I may use regular chocolate chips or a chocolate swirl. It would taste exactly like these chocolate-dipped mint candies that me and my siblings would make as kids. They required approximately 20 cups of powdered sugar to come together, but when they were dipped in chocolate and kept in the fridge, they were excellent. This is like the ice cream version of those! If you know, you know.
Print
Total Time:
Print
PinIngredients
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp butter extract
12 drops pure peppermint essential oil
5 ounces white chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together sweetened condensed milk, peppermint oil, natural butter flavor, and salt – set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat cream cheese until well softened and spread around the bowl. Add the heavy cream and whip on medium high until stiff peaks form.
- Spoon a third of the whipped cream into the condensed milk and whisk to combine. Add another third of the whipped cream to the condensed milk mixture and use a rubber spatula to fold to combine. Add the final third and fold to combine.
- Spoon into a 9×5-inch loaf pan or another Tupperware, smooth out the top, and freeze for about 3 hours. When it’s starting to firm up, take out of the freezer and fold in the white chocolate chips, and then smooth out the top again. Then keep freezing for 3 more hours or overnight, until totally firm.
- Keep frozen for up to 1 week.