When the Cap’n and I got married, I took about $40 of the cash people gave us and bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker. I thought I’d get into making homemade ice cream, but really, with the availability of good ice cream (Breyer’s and J.P. Licks come to mind), I never got around to it. When we made aliyah, and I was deciding which appliances I would bring and have to run on a transformer, the ice cream maker didn’t make the cut.
This turned out to be a mistake. Yes, Israel has some lovely ice cream and gelato in the boutiques, but the stuff in the grocery store (with the exception of the high-priced Ben & Jerry’s) is pretty bad. As in, doesn’t really taste like ice cream at all. (There is one exception to this, Strauss’s three-chocolate ice cream, but that’s the only one.) After we’d been here a couple of years, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and ordered an identical Cuisinart for my in-laws to bring with them last year. It is a little temperamental on the transformer—sometimes it overheats, needs a 10-minute rest before it will run again, then poops out after just a few more minutes. But it’s still worth it. The first thing I did was make a good vanilla ice cream. Then, when I had made a couple of successful batches of homemade toffee, I made toffee-vanilla. That was good too. And once I found peppermint flavoring in a Jerusalem grocery that carries lots of American products, I was set to make the Cap’n’s and my favorite: mint chocolate chip. To cut a long story short, it was a rousing success. Peach thinks it’s the best ice cream she’s ever had, ever. Banana also waxed enthusiastic. My in-laws inhaled it. The Cap’n and I were transported. (Beans didn’t like it, and asked if we had any three-chocolate instead. But she was the exception.) No more need to miss Breyer’s mint chocolate chip. And because I’m such a giving person, here is the recipe for your very own.
1 cup whole milk, well chilled (Israeli 3% works fine here)
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled (I buy the 38% stuff here in Israel)
1 to 1 ½ teaspoons pure peppermint extract
125 grams (or more, to taste) fine quality bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks (I use the 60% cacao chips made by Carmit in Israel)
In a medium bowl, whisk milk and sugar together until sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. (This is a good job to delegate to a kid.) Stir in cream and peppermint extract. Turn machine on and pour in mixture. Let mix until thickened, 15 minutes or so, before adding chocolate. Mix another 5 minutes, transfer to a plastic storage container, and put in freezer to finish freezing.
Shimshonit 
Are you kidding me? Israeli ice cream is, in my opinion, much superior to the American supermarket varieties. For starters, it’s not loaded up with high fructose corn syrup, and for seconds, Israeli dairy is just plain better than American dairy.
Of course, nothing beats home-made. But everything from Strauss to Good Humor to the Israeli Ben and Jerry’s brand is some darn-good ice cream.
YES! My Yemini neighbor makes her own salatim, because they stuff in the store doesn’t taste as good as what she remembers eating at home. I also make homemade ice cream, because the stuff they sell here is awful. My kids complain, though, if I make anything except chocolate. The problem is that it goes so fast….