Creamy, tasty, luscious homemade ice cream – who doesn’t love that? Ice cream is much easier to make than most people realize. Basic ingredients like milk and cream, eggs, a little sugar and flavoring. It takes a little time, but most of it is waiting for the custard to cool. And yes, some form of ice cream churn.
I make lots of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. And once these two basics are mastered, all kinds of variations come into play.
For instance, after this basic chocolate ice cream recipe, there is chocolate almond, chocolate marshmallow swirl, chocolate walnut, Rocky road, chocolate chocolate chip, chocolate fudge swirl, and so on.
I’ve collected ice cream recipes from all over, but I find myself going over and over again to my copy of Joy of Cooking (currently on sale on Amazon!), where this one originated.
A custard is made by mixing dry ingredients together, then adding milk. Heat over low heat until warm, then drizzle into 4 eggs yolks to temper them (which means keep them from cooking and turning into scrambled eggs). Easy, anyone can do it. Then heat again, stirring, until the custard is warm and slightly thickened, and coats the back of a spoon (if you pull a finger through the liquid on the spoon, it leaves an open trail). Again, very easy.
Save the egg whites for an egg white omelet, meringue, angel food cake, etc. I wash and save the egg shells to put around tomatoes in the garden.
To make our ice cream slightly “healthier” I use at least half monk fruit as a sugar substitute, which eliminates a few of those sugar calories. No one ever notices.
The custard gets refrigerated until cold. Or, if like me, there’s not a lot of time, put it in the freezer for a couple hours. It won’t freeze solid yet, unless it’s left in a long time.
Then put into your churn. It can be done by hand of course, the old-timey way, but my arthritis would never allow for that. Instead I use my Cuisinart Ice cream maker . Not very expensive as compared to some models, and easy to use. They only thing I learned from experience is never wash the freezer bowl with warm water (it does something to the gel inside, rendering it useless). I clean it up after one batch of ice cream and put it right back into the freezer to chill for the next batch.
On my wish list, an ice cream bowl for my Kitchen Aid.
Once churned it will still be quite soft. Eat immediately for “soft serve” style. It melts quickly! Ideally it goes into the freezer for a couple hours to “cure”. Overnight it freezes solid. Remove and let stand to soften in order to scoop and eat!
Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
a basic easy chocolate ice cream recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar or part monk fruit
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar or monk fruit
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
Instructions
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Mix the sugar (or monk fruit) cocoa powder and salt together in a large saucepan.
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Whisk in the milk – whisk well until it's all combined.
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Place pan over low heat and heat gently until at a simmer.
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Place egg yolks in a large bowl, and drizzle in 1-2 tbsp of the hot milk, whisking all the time. Continue to add milk a little at a time, always whisking, until about half the milk is incorporated. Then pour the egg mix back into the sauce pan and stir well.
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Heat the custard mix over medium low heat until hot (about 175F) until it coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT LET IT BOIL.
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Refrigerate until cool (several hours) or overnight. Or put in the freezer a couple hours until thoroughly chilled without freezing.
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Pour into your ice cream churn, and process per manufacturer instructions. To make a variation, see choices below. Put into a freezer proof container to "ripen" for 3 -4 hours (if you can wait).
Recipe Notes
Variations:
Chocolate nut – add in chopped nuts and flavored extracts
Chocolate marshmallow swirl – spread churned ice cream into a pan and put dollops of marshmallow mix on top, use a knife to swirl it through the ice cream.
Chocolate fudge swirl – same process as above.
Rocky Road – mix in mini marshmallows and some chipped (toasted) nuts.
Chocolate brownie – stir in chopped up brownie bits
Other add ins: miniature chocolate chips, cookie dough coconut or pistachios.
Swirl thorough some softened peanut butter, or cherry preserves
I guarantee once you make your own ice cream, you’ll do it again. Let’s see, for next week…maybe vanilla fudge swirl? or should I try Butter pecan? Oh, the choices out there….
What’s your favorite ice cream?
