Chocolate Ice Cream

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was the Tart Noire. It's a basic chocolate tart but I'm still at my parents' place and my mom doesn't have a tart pan. Plus, I'd probably have to eat it all by myself (I know, poor me, right?) because my dad's on a cholesterol busting diet and my mom doesn't like anything that is too rich.

So I bring to you a recipe for something I made some time ago, but never got around to posting - classic chocolate ice cream. I mentioned it when I made the Baby Ruth Ice Cream Pie and now here I am, months later, finally posting the recipe for it. Better late than never, right?

Like many of the recipes in David Lebovitz' The Perfect Scoop, this is another custard based ice cream recipe. The egg yolks really give it a rich, creamy chocolate flavor that keeps you going back for more.  I promise that if you have never made a custard based ice cream before you just have to try it once before you realize how easy it is! Don't let the egg yolks scare you!


Whenever I make this recipe, it usually only lasts about two days in our household because I can't keep my husband out of it! If you're in search of a good chocolate ice cream recipe, look no further - this ice cream is the perfect way to beat the summer heat while satisfying those chocolate cravings :)

Chocolate Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop

2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used semisweet chocolate chips)
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)