By Erin
I’d been promising my sweet hubby that I’d make him homemade ice cream for years. Last weekend, I did. He wanted vanilla, but every recipe I found required vanilla beans, which I couldn’t locate. So instead I tried this recipe from the Brown Eye Baker’s blog. It’s actually David Lebovitz’s recipe, so knew it would be good. And it was. But this is not chocolate for the faint of heart. This is chocolate ice cream for someone who likes rich, complex dark chocolate. The custard process makes it extra think, almost mousse like, instead of pure ice cream. But if this is how you like your chocolate ice cream, this recipe is for you. It’s not easy – so you need to be committed. But the homemade quality is undeniable.
The ingridients and recipe are here. And here’s a little photo tour. The recipe calls for Dutch process cocoa. I didn’t know what the heck that was. But this stuff was imported from Holland, so I decided that was close enough!
I began by whisking it with cream over the stove. I again used my Ruffoni Hand-Hammered Copper Risotto Pot Williams-Sonoma. This is possibly the single best pot I’ve ever, ever owed. I use it for anything sensitive – the shape is perfect for things that need to be whisked because the sides slope down. And it handles fragile items, like chocolate and custard beautifully.
Then I added in the chocolate chips, stirring as the melted and blended.
On the counter I prepared an ice bath.
After I warmed the milk and the sugar, I added the eggs to the mixture, and poured them back into the same pot the chocolate had just been in.
I then poured the egg mixture into the chocolate using a strainer. I didn’t have the right kind, so I just used my wire mesh colander. It worked to catch any egg bits that were beginning to cook. I mixed that with the chocolate and placed it in the ice bath until cool. I then let it chill completely for a few hours.
Putting together the Kitchenaid was difficult at first, because shockingly, I through out the directions. Luckily, I found them online.
Then we started stirring.
About 25 minutes later, I was happy with the texture.
I froze it for about 5 hours and dug right in. Pure decadence.
