Chocolate Ice Cream

If I were to walk into a bar and order chocolate, I would ask for it straight up. With a twist? No thank you. On the rocks? Neat please. I prefer to have the nuances of the chocolate reveal themselves without distraction.

Dark chocolate is one of my favorite indulgences and we always have several bars stashed away for after dinner nibbling. Yet as many of you have pointed out, our dessert line up has a whole lot of lemon with just the token chocolate recipe. I fear you’ve discovered my inner dessert sloth. If the bar is delicious eaten straight up, why fuss with making anything? I was quite happy to stick to this line of reasoning until I opened up The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and my inner dessert sloth was shaken from its tree. David’s dark chocolate ice cream tempted my lemon loving soul. Simple, creamy, and very chocolaty- I couldn’t resist.

Digging into our stash I discovered powdered Valhrona chocolate and immediately included it in the ingredient line up. Combined with a simple whole milk custard and melted dark chocolate bars, this ice cream achieved a fudgy level of intense chocolate that had me licking the bowl clean. I instructed Mr. B that we were to follow David’s philosophy of enjoying one “perfect scoop” of the ice cream per night. This worked fairly well, until I noticed that with each subsequent evening my definition of a “perfect” scoop kept growing. An inner voice would say, “Hmmm….not quite perfect, must need a little more to round it out. A bit lopsided, guess I’ll have to add a bit to this side.” (My inner voice needs to shut up and lose ten pounds!) If you’re in the mood for an intensely flavored chocolate dessert, then fire up the ice cream maker and start defining what your perfect scoop looks like!

Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate Ice Cream (Printable Recipe)

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.
Check out his blog (Warning…you’ll find him irresistible!)

Serves 8, or 4, or 2…

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream, divided

3 Tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Valhrona)

5 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

5 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Place a medium saucepan over low heat. Add 1 cup of the cream and the cocoa powder into the pan. Whisk mixture briskly to combine, and bring to a boil. Once liquid is boiling immediately reduce the heat to a steady simmer, and whisk constantly for about 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and remove pan from the burner. Add the chopped chocolate into the liquid and stir until it is melted and smooth. Next, add in the remaining 1 cup of cream and stir to combine. Transfer all of the liquid into a medium bowl, and place a fine mesh strainer on top of the bowl. Set bowl aside and make the custard.

Return the medium saucepan to the stove over low heat. Add the milk, sugar, and salt into the saucepan. Heat gently until the mixture begins to steam but not bubble. While the liquid is warming, in a separate medium bowl whisk the egg yolks together. Once the liquid is warmed, slowly pour it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. (If you are worried that your liquid is too hot, let it sit a minute to cool slightly before adding it into the eggs. I’ve learned it’s better to be safe than sorry when making custard.) Once the liquid and eggs are well combined, scrape the mixture back into the pan. Place the pan over a medium heat, and stir constantly. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan while you stir. Once the custard has thickened to the point that it coats the back of your spoon, remove it from the heat.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the medium bowl of chocolate liquid. When fully combined, stir well and add in the vanilla. Place the medium bowl of liquid in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water to cool quickly. Stir occasionally until the mixture has cooled enough to be transferred into the fridge. Press a layer of plastic wrap on top of the liquid to cover and prevent a skin from forming on the top of the custard. Place the bowl in the fridge and chill for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Once the mixture is chilled, transfer to your ice cream maker and freeze according the manufacturer’s instructions. If you find that the custard is too thick to pour, give it a stiff whisk or two to thin it out and then place it in the ice cream maker.

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