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Chocolate Ice Cream

Source of Recipe

From "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz


Recipe Introduction

"My search for the ultimate chocolate ice cream ended the day I dipped a spoon into my ice cream maker and took a taste of this one. And soon, I was licking the dasher as clean as the day I bought it! (I don't know why, but homemade ice cream always tastes best when scraped�or if no one's watching, licked�directly from the machine.) Intense cocoa powder blended with dark, bittersweet chocolate results in a perfect chocolate ice cream that's so irresistible you won't be able to wait to dig in, or lick it up, either."

List of Ingredients

◦ 2 cups heavy cream
◦ 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
◦ 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
◦ 1 cup whole milk
◦ � cup sugar
◦ Pinch of kosher or sea salt
◦ 5 large egg yolks
◦ � teaspoon pure vanilla extract



Recipe

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.

Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly with a heatproof spatula over medium heat, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, add the vanilla, and stir over an ice bath until cool.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)

Makes about 1 quart





❧ To make Rocky Road Ice Cream, fold in 1 � cups miniature marshmallows and 1 cup roasted peanuts or toasted, coarsely chopped almonds.

❧ To make Chocolate-Mint Ice Cream, stir ⅛ teaspoon mint oil or extract into the custard before freezing, then fold in 2 cups crumbled peppermint patties into the just-churned ice cream.