Homemade Dark Chocolate Custard

Prep: 30 minutes Chill Time: variable

Ice cream is such a great dessert. There’s so many different kinds and things you can do with it. I wanted to do a test batch again and try a new way. This one is a custard and uses eggs when last time with the Dulce De Leche we just made a base without it. The addition of the egg yolks gives a creamier taste normally. I was worried about it but we did it anyway. I did a 1/4 recipe but I’ll give the portion sizes from the original recipe I got out of Ice Cream Social for their malted chocolate which makes 2 quarts.

Ingredients

• 9 oz milk chocolate (I used bittersweet)

• 4 cups heavy whipping cream

• 12 egg yolks

• 2 1/2 cups half and half

• 1 1/3 cup sugar

• Pinch of salt (I used sea salt)

• 1 cup dark chocolate chocolate powder

• Ice cream maker

  Prep

There’s a few bowls of things to get ready first

Get rid of those solids

You want to get it thick but not scrambled

It looks and smells like chocolate milkshake

It is so fun watching it freeze

1. Make a double broiler (simmer water in a pot, add a bowl over top to put in the ingredients) to melt the chocolate (or cheat and microwave because you just need the chocolate to melt honestly)

2. Fill a large (heat proof if you have it) bowl part way with ice

3. Add a slightly smaller but still relatively large (will eventually hold 2 quarts of ingredients) bowl inside so that this will chill it

4. Add the whipping cream to the bowl and put a strainer over it. I kept this in the fridge to make sure it stayed chilled but you want it on hand while doing the next part for the moment you transfer to it to keep from burning things

5. Add the eggs to a small bowl and whisk fully

6. Start a pot over heat and add all the half and half, salt, sugar and the chocolate powder to it mixing it fully to dissolve the dry ingredients fully. Use a whisk and keep stirring, do not let this boil, only simmer.

7. When it gets hot lower the heat a bit and take 1 cup of this and pour it super slowly into the egg yolks, whisking the whole time. This is called tempering the eggs.

8. When done with the pour then immediately pour the yolks back into the pot and don’t stop whisking to combine it. Try to use a spatula to get all the egg yolks from the bowl.

9. Keep using the spatula from the whisk, and use it to constantly stir and scrap the bottom and sides clean. You want to keep moving and prevent the eggs from scrambling and stay creamy. This was much easier than it seemed when I finally got to it.

10. You’ll keep doing this until it thickens enough that it evenly coats the spatula. This should be no longer than 5 minutes

11. Pour this mixture into the melted chocolate and whisk it all together

12. Use the strainer to pour that mixture into the heavy cream and stir to blend

13. Chill this thoroughly. Recommended is 2 hours in the fridge. I did 30 minutes in the freezer as I was in a time crunch

14. Grab your ice cream maker and turn on the churn and pour in the custard

15. Let it churn and turn into ice cream

Afterthoughts

This is still is soft serve but held together more

This was super creamy and so tasty. It reminded me of the dark chocolate ice cream from Cold Stone which is one of my favorites. I enjoyed it so much. Nice and creamy and so chocolatey. This was much easier than anticipated and a lot of fun to make. It was amazing seeing how easy it was to keep the eggs from scrambling and turning instead into the perfect mixture. After freezing this in the wrong container, this also didn’t keep the way I wanted but I really need to buy the correct type of container to store it.