Silky Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Our church held a homemade ice cream contest over Labor Day weekend. I had never made ice cream on my own (we did as kids, but I really didn't have much to do with the process other than eating the end product) so I was a bit unsure of how it all worked.

I've now made four different types of ice cream. three out of the four were successful. The failure, lemonade ice cream, I blame on the eggs. After much Googling, the egg yolks can be the trickiest part it seems. I'm thinking I cooked them wrong.

My fourth attempt actually didn't use eggs. More about that recipe later (it was AMAZING).

• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate

Combine milk, heavy cream, sugar and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan and cook, stirring frequently, until hot but not simmering. Whisk the melted chocolate into the egg yolks (it will be thick and difficult to whisk). Temper the egg yolk mixture by slowly pouring 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the yolks while whisking vigorously. Pour the yolk mixture into the saucepan and cook, sitting constantly, until very hot but not simmering. Do not boil.

Pour the mixture through a sieve. Stir in the vanilla extract. Cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming; chill until completely cold. Freeze and churn in your ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. Toward the end of the churning time add the chopped chocolate. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm, 6 hours or overnight. If the ice cream is hard, allow it to soften at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving.

NOTES: I combine this recipe with a raspberry recipe. It was fantastic. I made both full recipes and then just put half of each in the churner at a time. It churned, got moved to a storage container, and then I churned the rest.

Total Time: 20 minutes + churning and freezing

Recipe from The Unoffical Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz