Chocolate Ice Cream

This recipe is from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, and if I never made any other recipes from this book, this recipe would be worth the cost of the book. This is a rich, luxurious, decadent ice cream.

I've made this several times, using different types of chocolate and cocoa. This time I used a black cocoa and Guittard semisweet chocolate. Next time I'm sure I'll use something else, because there's always another chocolate around.

The only thing I changed when I made it was that I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla instead of the 1/2 teaspoon. Bad habit. I have a vanilla problem.

I use an attachment for my Kitchenaid stand mixer to make ice cream. The paddle stalls when the ice cream gets thick, and that's when it's done. Some ice creams take a long time for that to happen and a lot of air gets mixed into the ice cream. Every time I've made this one, it quits early, before a lot of air has been incorporated. But that's okay. The denseness is nice. And since the recipe says that it makes about a quart, I guess I'm doing it right, since that's about what I got from the last batch.

Chocolate Ice Cream
Adapted from A Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 cups heavy cream, divided
3 tablespoons unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm one cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisking to thoroughly combine the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly.

Remove the milk from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir to combine, then add the remaining 1 cup of cream and stir to combine completely. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and set a strainer on top of the bowl.

In the same pan that you heated the chocolate in, heat the milk, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and set aside while the milk heats up.

Slow pour the milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. When it is completely combined, pour it all back into the pan and cook it over medium heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.

Pour the egg mixture through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until it's completely combined, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until the mixture is cool, over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture completely in the refrigerator before freezing it according to the instructions for your ice cream maker.

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