Blueberry Mint Mojito Ice Cream

I'm kind of at a loss for words today. I know, my fiance is appalled right now. But I have started, deleted, and re-started today's post 3 times now. I just don't know what to say. Like I said, speechless. But what I do know is how absolutely crave-able this ice cream is. Creamy. Sweet. Minty. All the perfect descriptions of a delicious mojito on a warm summer day. But in ice cream form. Can we all just go to the beach together? But like, skip the bikinis and sunscreen and just sit under a tiki hut eating this all day? All aboard!

Blueberry Mint Mojito Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup packed fresh mint leaves
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp. rum or vodka (optional)

In a medium saucepan, heat the blueberries, sugar, and salt over medium heat, mashing with a fork or potato masher once the blueberries begin to soften and burst. Bring to a low boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove form the heat and allow the mixture to cool for at least 30 minutes. 

Once the blueberries have cooled, add them to a blender and puree until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, stirring to get all of the liquid through the mesh, and discarding the leftover skins and seeds (I used the skin and seeds on toast; makes an amazingly thick jam!). Stir in the lime juice and set the bowl aside.

While the strained blueberries continue to cool, heat 1 cup of the heavy cream, the milk, and the mint leaves over medium heat in a medium saucepan (I rinsed and used the same one that I previously used for my blueberries). Once the mixture begins to come to a simmer, stir the mixture, remove from the heat, cover, and allow the mint leaves to steep for 1 hour. 

While the mint cream is steeping, add the remaining 1 cup of cream to the cooling blueberries. Mix well to combine. Once the mint has steeped for 1 hour, pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve (again I washed and used the same one from earlier) into a medium bowl, allowing the cream to pass through and catching the mint in the sieve. Press firmly down on the mint leaves to allow them to extract all of the mint flavor into the cream mixture. Discard the mint leaves. 

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. 

Return the cream to the medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. Once the cream mixture has heated up again, slowly whisk 1/2 cup of the warm cream into the egg yolks, This allows the egg yolks to "temper", which prevents them from curdling or turning into scrambled eggs in your ice cream base. Return the tempered egg yolks into the saucepan with the rest of the cream. Stir constantly until the cream/egg mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon or spatula. 

Place the fine mesh sieve (cleaned after discarding the mint leaves) over the blueberry mixture bowl, and pour the cream/egg mixture through the mesh and into the blueberry bowl. Clean the fine mesh sieve once more. Stir the cream and blueberries well until combined. Pour the mixture through the sieve once more into a clean bowl and discard any blueberry/milk solids. Now stir in the rum or vodka if using (this will make for a softer/creamier final ice cream product). 

Cover the bowl with non-stick cling wrap and place the bowl of the ice cream base into the fridge for 8 hours until cooled completely.

Recipe slightly adapted from Treats + Eats