Chocolate Ice Cream

We had my mother- and sister-in-law over for dinner last night, and I decided to make two desserts; first I made the pavlova again, then I also made chocolate ice cream, thinking my sister-in-law might not like the pavlova.  I grabbed a bunch of chocolate ice cream recipes off TasteSpotting, and amusingly, all of the recipes were from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. I guess it was in the stars that I try this recipe, huh?

This is a rich recipe and not for the faint-hearted. It's definitely a dark chocolate, so remember that. Serve it with some sweetness.. or raspberries. It was SO GOOD with raspberries.  I also mixed in some white chocolate chips to add some light sweetness to complement the heavy chocolate tones. 

Chocolate Ice Cream

(The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

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 reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then 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 yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

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.)