If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’d probably know that I am working out of Amsterdam from past one week. It’s Spring here in Amsterdam, but I find it frigid, at least when I walk to work in morning and then when I head back to my apartment in the evening. And I am also aware how intensely hot has been back there in Delhi. Just a week before flying in here, I made this dark chocolate ice cream from monsieur Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. I love how the Parisien celebrity blogger and cookbook author has detailed out the art of making luscious smooth and velvety ice cream at home. And every time, I have tried his recipe, it has never disappointed me. I don’t know why I am not a very big fan of chocolate ice cream. I am the plain jane vanilla ice cream kind of person. Probably because the chocolate ice creams we get from the store are either cloyingly sweet or way too dark and bitter to be called as a real comforting dessert. And that is the reason, I had always stayed away from them. But I still wanted to make chocolate ice cream at home at least once. So I dirtied my hands eventually. There was this big block of Valrhona in my fridge, I bought from Amsterdam last time I was here. It was time to demolish that big block of beautiful dark chocolate and turn it into an indulgent chocolate treat. The ice cream came out amazingly fudgy and so rich that only a couple of spoonfuls could satiate my chocolate cravings. My friends helped licking off the bowl clean. Everyone was a happy soul after having this delicious treat.
- 3 cups low fat or single cream
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 140 gm bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used 70% Valrhona)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Warm 1 cup of cream with cocoa powder in medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to boil then reduce heat and gently simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Stir in one more cup of cream.
- Pour mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as much as possible. Set mesh strainer atop the bowl. Warm remaining one cup cream, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm cream into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.
- Stir mixture constantly over medium heat making sure to scrape the bottom and corners, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour custard through strainer and stir it into the chocolate until smooth, then stir in the vanilla.
- Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let chill in fridge for at least 3 hours. Freeze it in your ice cream machine per the manufacturer’s instructions.