There’s nothing more satisfying in the summer than a big scoop of rich, chocolatey, cool, creamy and smooth ice cream! When it’s super hot outside, there’s just nothing better! This recipe for homemade chocolate ice cream is my absolute favorite! I pick this over any high-end store bought brand any day!
Here’s what you need:
Most of my ice cream recipes follow the same formula and use almost the exact same ingredients (apart from flavorings.) Once you have the basic recipe down, you can make any flavor of ice cream you can imagine!
Start by making a simple custard simply by whisking a hot milk and cream mixture into egg yolks. Then, chill the custard and churn it in an ice cream maker.
How to make homemade chocolate ice cream:
Temper the egg yolks.
The cocoa is added to the milk/cream mixture and heated, then drizzled into the egg yolk mixture to temper them. First, dump the cocoa into a medium sauce pan. Add the cream and whisk until it forms a thick, pasty consistency. Then, whisk in the milk until smooth. Making the paste first will allow fewer clumps to form than if you were to just dump the cocoa straight into all of the milk and cream. Heat this over medium until very warm but not scalding hot. Stir it regularly to keep it from scorching.
While the milk mixture is heating, whisk together the yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla in a separate mixing bowl. Once the milk is hot, begin drizzling small amounts of it into the yolk mixture at a time while whisking. This is tempering. The heat from the hot milk cooks the yolks gently while you whisk so they don’t harden, but become smooth and viscous.
Once about a third of the milk has been drizzled into the yolks, pour the entire tempered yolk and sugar mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milks. Whisk constantly as you heat the custard. Use a thermometer to ensure the temperature does not exceed 165 degrees F.
Pour the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a mixing bowl and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming as it cools.
Chill the custard.
Before churning, the custard must be very cold. Like as cold as the refrigerator. This takes some time, so be patient. It can take hours. I try to give it at least 4 full hours in the fridge so the ice cream will set properly.
Churn the ice cream.
It takes about 15 minutes in my ice cream maker to set, but check the instructions on your since it could have different requirements.
Place the freshly-churned ice cream back in the freezer.
Ice cream is very soft right out of the ice cream maker and needs to finish hardening in the freezer. Place it in a container with a lid and let it freeze for a couple hours, or don’t. I don’t blame you if you can’t wait to dig in!
Other recipes to try:
The Best Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the yolks, salt, sugar, and vanilla. It will be very thick at first, but will loosen as the sugar melts. Set this aside. Pour the cocoa into a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Drizzle in a few tablespoons of the milk while stirring until the mixture is smooth. Add the remaining milk and heavy cream and whisk until combined. Heat the milk mixture over medium until until hot but not scalding, stirring regularly to prevent scorching. Once hot, ladle a small amount of the hot milk into the yolk/ sugar mixture while whisking. Continue to do this until about a third of the milk is in the yolk mixture. Now pour the entire tempered yolk/ sugar/ milk mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk/ cocoa mixture. Heat this while stirring until the custard reaches no higher than 165 degrees F. Strain the custard through a sieve into a bowl. Place a sheet of plastic directly on top of the custard and place the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours to chill. (At least 4, but the longer the better.)Once chilled, pour the custard into a prepared ice cream maker and churn for 15 minutes. Spoon into a lidded container and place back in to the refrigerator to finish hardening.
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