FULL-BODIED CHOCOLATE DECADENCE ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

(Makes about a half quart)

Heavy Cream (200 mL)

2 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder ( about 15 grams ) (I used partially de-oiled cocoa powder with around 20 - 22% cocoa butter from Naturata, a fairtrade company.)

3.5 ounces Chopped Chocolate (60 - 75% cacao) (100 grams)

2/3 cup Whole Milk (160 mL)

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Sugar (80 grams)

3 Large Egg Yolks

1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean (optional)

Bowl of ice water

Tools:

Heavy Bottom Pot or Double boiler (Don’t have a Double Boiler? Don’t worry, just place a medium bowl over the top of a pot with a an inch or two of water simmering in the bottom.)

Whisk

Sieve

Large bowl & smaller bowl (ice bath)

Wooden spoon* 

Thermometer*

*Ideal, not essential

Instructions:

1. Fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. Place a smaller bowl into the icy water to chill. Make sure to have a sieve nearby for later. (This will become an ice bath for cooling the custard later on.)

2. Pour half the cream and the unsweetened cocoa powder into a pot and place over medium heat. Whisk while the cocoa powder dissolves into the cream. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low, whisking constantly for half a minute.

3. Remove from the heat and add your chopped chocolate. Give it a good stir until the mixture is smooth. Add the other half of your cream while stirring. Once smooth, float the pot in your ice bath. Keep a sieve nearby for later.

4. Set your heavy bottom pot or double boiler over medium high heat.

5. Add the milk, sugar, and salt to the pot Stir until the sugar has melted and steam begins to rise from the surface.

6. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl.  Once it is uniform, add a  tablespoon of the steaming dairy mixture while still whisking. Repeat until you have added three to four tablespoons of the dairy mixture to the yolks. Add the yolk mixture back into the rest of the dairy mixture, stirring continuously with a spatula or wooden spoon. Make sure to mix the bottom as well. The custard will be done cooking once the mixture is thick enough to glaze the back of the spoon. Run your finger across the back of the spoon. If the custard remains separated, it is done cooking.

7. Strain the custard into the floating bowl of chilled chocolate cream. Add the vanilla and stir the custard until cool. (5-ish minutes)

8. Refrigerate in an airtight container for at least four hours. Letting it sit even longer, perhaps overnight, is even better.

9. When you are ready to churn, follow the instructions of your ice cream maker. Pour your chilled custard into your machine (removing the vanilla bean if you used one) and let it churn until it has the texture you desire.

10. Store the ice cream in a pre-chilled, air-tight container and freeze! 

---

This Chocolate ice cream will keep for about one week.

Notes :

Chocolate comes in many forms, shades, and constitutions. You'll need to consider what you want for your ice cream to deduce which chocolate type will be best for you. For the most part we stick to medium to dark unsweetened chocolate bars and partially de-oiled cocoa powder with around 20 - 22% cocoa butter for our traditional chocolate ice cream. We highly recommend that you find a good quality brand of chocolate that employs fairtrade practices.

+Bars vs Chips - It seems that chocolate bars often contain more cocoa butter than chocolate chips, making chocolate bars better suited to melting. But you can use either for this recipe!

+ Powders - When it comes to cocoa powder, stick to unsweetened cocoa powder (avoid powdered chocolate... it is not the same thing as cocoa powder). Chocolate drink mixes like Nesquick and ovaltine contain sugar. We stick to medium to dark unsweetened chocolate bars and partially de-oiled cocoa powder with around 20 - 22% cocoa butter for our traditional chocolate ice cream

+ White Chocolate - If you’re going the White Chocolate route, you won’t be able to follow this recipe exactly. You’ll need to compensate for the lack of cocoa powder by playing around with the chocolate to cream/sugar ratios. Real white chocolate is the kind you will want to use. The real stuff has the delicate creamy color of ivory (it's not white!) and will only have pure cocoa butter listed on it's ingredients label in the "fats" section.

Up until I was fifteen, my experiences cooking with chocolate pretty much gravitated around that beloved childhood staple - Chocolate Chips. 

I would melt the hell out of a bag of chocolate chips and just go to town on it... cloyingly rich hot chocolate, powdered puppy chow... I even made my own "gourmet" peanut butter cups on countless occasions. 

In reality, a true epicure would most likely cringe at my rather graceless recipe choices, but while I was in the kitchen tempering my chocolate chips, I could practically hear the theme music from Chocolat. (A movie which Thomas, who's French, has never seen and doesn't realize he's missing out on! ) Vianne was there with me, in spirit, helping me nail down my peanut butter cups, I was positive.

Eventually, I moved on to increasingly more sophisticated recipes... spiced truffles, boozy tiramisu, and chocolate citrus mousses. I learned the best chocolate recipes only showcase two flavors at a time (three at most) and that it pays to pay attention to the content of your chocolate.

Throughout college, I worked nights and weekends at an "upscale" chocolate shop in New York. (The quotations denote that I was unimpressed with the end-product... even though I managed to eat plenty of it whenever running to the storage for more loose truffles... talk about the freshman fifteen. Ugh!)

It wasn't until I was visiting with Thomas' family in Christmas 2015 that I had a real homemade chocolate cake. I'm not talking about the kind that comes out of a box and is served under an inch of Betty Crocker icing. I'm talking chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, and the lightest dusting of flour all melted together in a blissfully dark bain-marie... no icing necessary. This thing was the real deal. This was my first fondant. (No, not the tasteless sugar clay they put over wedding cakes - a misnomer if I've ever come across one.)

A fondant au chocolat is a decadently soft cake, with so little flour it's basically a warm chocolate bar. 

Whenever I make chocolate ice cream, my goal is to resurrect that fondant au chocolat in creamy, cold form. For that reason, I use high-quality chocolate (60 - 75% cacao opinion), big yellow yolks, fresh cream, and the smallest amount of sugar possible. 

Enjoy!!