Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
The summer before starting college, I learned to drink my coffee black. Bitter, deep, and smoky. Without a trace of sweetness.
This was a new development for my sugar craving palette.
Which quickly began to manifest itself in my choice of chocolate. The milk chocolate coating on the candy bars of my youth was replaced by a craving for dark chocolate.
A craving for something deeper, richer, and darker than I had tasted before. For tastes of bitterness that were borderline too bitter to tolerate. But that contrasted beautifully sweetness, making it all the more sweet. I imagine that’s what maturity tastes like.
This chocolate ice cream is dark, creamy, and rich. It’s a great base for a multitude of combinations. I’m thinking it needs a salted caramel drizzle. What would you put on top?
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine half and half, whole milk, heavy cream, 1 cup of sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine. Give it a little taste to make sure you have enough salt.
- In a bowl, whisk together well the egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
- Over medium-high heat, heat milk mixture until sugar dissolves and begins to simmer. Stir in cocoa powder and chopped chocolate until combined. Bring back to simmer.
- Slowly pour about one cup of the simmering milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly to temper the eggs (a.k.a. cook the eggs without scrambling them). Add egg mixture to saucepan, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat. Add vanilla extract.
- Pour mixture in a large bowl over a fine mesh sieve to catch any egg clumps Cover and let cool to room temperature. Place in fridge for about 3 hours. To speed up the cooling process, place bowl in an ice bath in the fridge, or place in the freezer sans ice bath until chilled.
- Once mixture is cold, make ice cream according to your machine’s instructions. I use this ice cream maker.
I NEED a scoop! Gorgeous photos!
Seriously – send me a scoop or two of this and I’d be a happy girl!
I’ll trade you tacos for ice cream? This looks amazing!
Oh, swoon.
I’d make a banana split with this ice cream
YUM
i really want to try this, but I have never tempered eggs…. any additional advice you can give? I am always afraid I am going to pour it in too fast or too slow.
I know what you mean—it still wigs me out. I make sure the eggs are whisked well. I usually add the hot liquid to a one cup measuring utensil and only fill half way. I pour very slowly. The initial entrance of the liquid is most important. The eggs will begin to cook right away. Once you get that out of the way, you are in the clear. Pouring the rest of the liquid in is somewhat a formality. When you pour the egg mixture back into the hot milk, whisk well initially to incorporate. It will cook a bit more at this stage. I use a strainer at the end to catch any clumps (which are most likely over cooked egg). I say all that with the confidence that you’ve got this! After you do it once, you’ll be a pro
Hope this helps.
I like that – ” I imagine that’s what maturity tastes like.” I wonder if you could add a little cinnamon and chilli powder to this to make it taste like the Lindt chili dark chocolate bar – I was just thinking about that last night..
Oh my, that would be divine.
See……….the trouble is I don’t have an Ice Cream Maker…………..I wonder if this could work just freezing/stirring/freezing, like a gratina?
I’ve never tried it. I’m thinking it may turn out a bit harder than usual. Sarah from the Vanilla Bean Blog makes a no churn ice cream though. She uses sweetened condensed milk. I’m thinking that may help develop the right texture.
http://www.thevanillabeanblog.com/2011/06/no-churn-bittersweet-chocolate-ice.html
This looks heavenly. I made a dark chocolate ice cream out of Bon Appetit that was too rich so I am eager to try this one! I can always count on your recipes being perfection.
Oh gosh, the pressure is on
I’m with you! Dark Dark Dark. I’m usually an ice cream purist, really hard frozen ice cream that you need an ice pick to get at… no toppings… LOVE. This is perfect as is.
This may be ice pick quality. It’s usually a workout to scoop it or, if I can wait, I leave it out on the counter for a couple minutes. It’s usually a workout
LOVE this post!!! i’m an ice cream girl, totally. and as always: i love your pics… and those bowls are amazing {anthropologie???}, xo
Thank you mucho! And yes, they are from Anthro. I’m obsessed with these bowls. I may have a tiny collection.
Beautiful, please pass a spoon!
I would pour just a little milk over the top. I love how it makes an icy crust.
I’m a dark fan myself. This looks delish!
Yummers:)
This just looks like pure awesomeness!
Yum! I too am a fan of dark chocolate.Love the rich flavor!
I would sprinkle grated dark chocolate on top of this!!! you have me drooling with those pics!
Love dark chocolate and that’s just one of those rare ice cream i like! Love that photo with the ice cream scooper.
Argentineans are pretty crazy about gelato. I was backpacking through the country earlier this year and noticed that every heladeria (gelato shop), countrywide, featured multiple kinds of dulce de leche and chocolate gelato. My favorite was chocolate amargo—dark chocolate. SO good! Thanks for this recipe!
There is nothing better than rich, dark chocolate! Great recipe.
I’m with you ~ dark chocolate all the way! A beautiful bowl of ice cream
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Hey there, I love chocolate and ice cream. I saw this on pinterest. I am skeptical of pinterest. Most of the time the descriptions say something like “best (food item of choice) you will EVER eat.” then you try it and think “that tastes worse than what I usually make…”. Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I often wish there were reviews in the comment so I know what people thought. So here is mine: I made this tonight, first time I had been to your site and I have to say it was DELICIOUS! So good. Has a perfect (in my opinion) amount of taste of dark chocolate. It is “dark chocolate” for sure though. I was also a little skeptical to start because I am not a coffee drinker and the description talks about coffee and this. I was worried this may be too bitter for my taste. But I LOVED it. Highly recommended and five stars from me! This actually was one of those “wow this is one of the best ice creams I’ve ever eaten!” recipes for me.
I made the custard last night. The mixture was already very thick even before I added the egg yolks, and after adding egg yolks, my mixture was like pudding already, did I do it right? Then I refrigerated overnight, this morning, the mixture was just like pudding, dark chocolate pudding! I had to spoon one spoonful at a time to my mixer ice cream maker attachment, the ‘pudding’ like custard would not pour at all. Is this the way it’s supposed to be?
Hmmm… I’m not quite sure why the mixture would be super thick without the eggs. I’m wondering if that caused it to be extra thick once the eggs were added and after it sat overnight? It should be thick, for sure, but pourable. Also, I’ve never let it sit overnight, so there a chance my mixture would have hardened like yours had it sat overnight. Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!