Chocolate Ice Cream

I decided I would put this in a separate post because I didn't want to bog down the banana split post. There's enough going on in those pictures alone to make someone a little woozy, might as well spread out the recipes. This chocolate ice cream is the third flavor I've tried out with my ice cream maker. I'm not going to lie, watching what goes into this ice cream is enough to make you swear off all cream based foods forever. Eight egg yolks, really!? Yes. And you know what? Those eight egg yolks contribute to a deliciously rich and creamy ice cream. Ice cream-1, Sarah-0.

I have a lot of chocolate ice cream recipes I've bookmarked that I'll hopefully be trying in the upcoming weeks. This one was excellent and really easy, but I don't think I'll be able to resist adding extra ingredients next time. I'll admit, I even added a little cinnamon and espresso powder to this. Next time, I'm thinking cookie/brownie bites and fudge. Mmmm. Enjoy.


Chocolate Ice Cream
Recipe from The Other Side of 50 (adapted from Alton Brown)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch process)
3 cups half & half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla

Place the cocoa powder along with 1 cup of the half-and-half into a medium saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Add the remaining half-and-half and the heavy cream. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.

In mixing bowl beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually beat in the sugar, occasionally scraping down the beaters and sides of mixing bowl. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added. Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Add in the pinch of salt and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees. Pour the mixture through a mesh strainer and into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Cover container and refrigerate for 4-8 hours. (I refrigerated mine overnight.)

Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.