ICOTW: Very Chocolatey Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate ice cream.  I aim to make a variety every July since I like chocolate and July is my birthday month and therefore my favorite month.  I knew I "needed" (by my own self-imposed goals) to make another ice cream recipe to help finish out the month of ice cream and so decided to kill two birds with one stone.  I had a free Saturday morning where the backyard was too wet to work on digging a sandbox (we've made SMALL progress on that!) so I made ice cream.  You all, I never regret having chocolate ice cream in my freezer.

In terms of difficulty, this is on the higher end of the recipes I've made and shared here.  There was egg separating and tempering which is never my favorite even though I have yet to make scrambled eggs in all the times I've had to do it (even though I HAVE messed up many an egg separating).  But really, the eggs were the most difficult part and there weren't too many steps involved.  I was also working with a recipe I just found that morning so had to go with one that I had all the ingredients for.  Which wasn't whole milk so had to do a little substituting of half and half for the whole milk.  I figured that would just make it slightly richer?  Either way it didn't seem to harm the final product at all!

I finally tried this earlier this week, after a crazy morning/early afternoon that included my kids being at 3 locations while I worked (that's right, one of them changed places while I worked) and making approximately 30 stops in our 5.5 hours out of the house so I could work for 3 (that's only a slight exaggeration...I really don't know the number of times I was in and out of the car).  So, post crazy morning, had one kid playing with cousins and the other was at least staying in his room for quiet time and I finally ate my lunch at 2:45 then was able to drown my "I was a taxi and then freezing in the AC at work and then refusing to use the AC in the car so now I'm really hot" exhaustion on some leftovers and then ice cream.  I highly recommend chocolate ice cream as a pick me up and speak highly of this one working well for that.  It's VERY rich and VERY chocolatey! 

One year ago: Chocolate Cinnamon Custard
Two years ago: Raspberry Peach Popsicles
Three years ago: Coconut Pineapple Sorbet 
Four years ago: No-Churn Brownie Caramel Ice Cream
Five years ago: Delectable Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
Six years ago: Fruit Coconut Pops

Very Chocolatey Chocolate Ice Cream
yield: about 1 quart
Ice Cream Ingredients
-1½ cups whole milk (or half and half works too!)
-1½ cups heavy cream
-¾ cups sugar, divided
-¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch Process, if you have it)
-¼ tsp fine sea salt
-½ tsp vanilla extract
-8 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
-4 large egg yolk

Fudge Swirl Ingredients
-¼ cup + 2 TB heavy cream
-1 TB unsalted butter
-¼ cup sugar
-2 TB packed brown sugar
-½ cup semi-sweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips)
-pinch of salt
-½ tsp vanilla

Ice Cream Directions
1) Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice cubes and a few cups of water.  Set a sieve over a medium bowl that will fit inside and set aside.  Chop and melt (I used the microwave) the chocolate and separate the eggs. 

2) In a medium saucepan combine the whole milk (or half and half), heavy cream, ½ cup sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla.  Set over medium heat, stir occasionally, until it is warm and is steaming, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the melted chocolate.

3) Whisk together the remaining ¼ cup of sugar with the 4 egg yolks.  Carefully whisk about 1 cup of the warm milk/cream/chocolate mixture into the eggs/sugar.  Keep slowly adding more milk/cream while whisking the whole time.  Once you have added all the milk/cream and whisked it all together, pour all of it back into the saucepan and set over medium heat.  Stirring constantly until it reaches 175° with an instant read thermometer, about 5-7 minutes.  DO NOT BOIL.

4) Immediately strain this through the sieve in the medium bowl and place the medium bowl into the large ice and water filled bowl.  Let it come to room temperature, stirring occasionally.  Then place the medium bowl in the fridge until chilled.  

Swirl Directions
5) Heat the cream, butter, and sugars in a small saucepan over low hear.  Bring to a boil and cook until the sugars are dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in chocolate.  Let sit for 3 minutes and then stir smooth.  Let sit at room temperature while waiting for the ice cream to be ready to churn.

Final Steps
6) Churn the chilled ice cream mixture per your machine's instructions.  When it is finished, transfer to a freezer safe container, drizzling the swirl between the layers.  Press a piece of parchment or plastic wrap directly on the top of the ice cream before putting on the lid.  Freeze.  Will need ~7-10 minutes to come to a scoop able temperature.
 

Source: Handle the Heat with Tessa Arias
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In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream (or other frozen treat) each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!