Mint chip protein ice cream pint
43 min · 24 g protein · 239 cals / serving
Fresh mint leaves steeped in warm milk and blended into a whey base, which tastes cool and green rather than of toothpaste. Melted dark chocolate is drizzled into the spun pint and shatters into thin, crisp flecks, the way the best mint chip does.
Ingredients
Base
- 1 1/2 cups ultra-filtered milk, or skim milk
- 1 cup leaves, loosely packed mint, fresh peppermint or spearmint, stems removed
- a few leaves baby spinach, for a pale green colour (optional)
- 1 scoop whey protein, vanilla; a whey-casein blend spins creamiest
- 1 tbsp sugar-free instant pudding mix, sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 pinches stevia, or sweetener to taste
- 1 pinch salt
To spin
- 2 tbsp skim milk, for re-spinning or blitzing, plus a splash more if needed
Mix-in
- 3/4 oz dark chocolate 70-85%, 70 %, melted
Steps
- Warm the milk until steaming (not boiling), take it off the heat, add the mint leaves and press them under. Cover and steep 30 minutes, then chill it in the fridge or over ice until cold.
- Pour the milk and its mint leaves into the blender with the spinach (if using), whey, pudding mix, vanilla, sweetener and salt and blend for a full minute, until the leaves are flecks. Strain through a fine sieve for a smooth pint, pressing on the leaves, or leave the flecks in. Let it stand 5 minutes.
- Pour the base into an ice-cream-pint container up to the max fill line, put the lid on and freeze on a level shelf for 24 hours. (No machine? Pour it into about two ice-cube trays instead and freeze at least 4 hours; see the last step.)
- Take the lid off and spin the frozen pint on the light ice cream setting. It usually comes out powdery the first time: add the 2 tbsp milk and re-spin. If it is still crumbly, add 1 more tbsp and re-spin once more, until it is smooth and creamy.
- Make a well down the middle all the way to the bottom and drizzle in the melted chocolate in a thin stream. Run the mix-in setting once: the chocolate sets the moment it touches the cold ice cream and breaks into thin chips.
- Without a pint machine: let the frozen cubes stand 5–10 minutes, then blitz them in a large food processor with the 2 tbsp milk, plus a splash more if it stalls, stopping to scrape down several times, until thick and creamy, 3–5 minutes. It comes out softer and a little icier than a machine pint, like thick frozen yogurt. Drizzle in the melted chocolate while folding, so it sets into flecks. Eat it soft, or firm it in the freezer for 30–60 minutes.
Good to know
Can I use peppermint extract instead?
Yes, and it is quicker: skip the steeping and blend 1/8–1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract into cold milk. Add it a drop at a time and taste, because extracts vary a lot in strength and too much tastes of toothpaste.
Does the spinach taste?
Not at five leaves; it only turns the base a soft green that makes the pint look like mint chip. Leave it out for a white pint.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 101
- Protein
- (42%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (32%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (26%)
- 7 g
- of which sugar
- 4 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 153 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 479 kcal goes into the pot and 483 g of ingredients comes out as about 475 g of food: 101 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.