Bloatal Recall: Chocolate Ice Cream

This recipe has everything you'd want in a chocolate ice cream...it's rich, creamy and chocolatey. Perfect for making Guinness ice cream floats (which is what I did with it). And if you want to lighten it up a little, you can replace the cream (or some of the half 'n half) with milk. It won't be quite as over-the-top rich and creamy, but hey, it will still be chocolate ice cream...how bad could that possibly be?

CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups half-and-half

1 cup heavy cream

8 large egg yolks

9 ounces sugar
2-3 pinches of salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Place the cocoa powder along with 1 cup of the half-and-half into a medium saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Add remaining half-and-half and the heavy cream. Bring mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.

2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added. Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3. Stir in the vanilla extract. Place the mixture into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours or until the temperature reaches 40 degrees F. or below.

4. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.

barely adapted from Alton Brown, 2005