Chocolate - the Rich: Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Earlier in the summer my husband and I spent nearly a month living in the guest room in our basement (or "garden level" as those in real estate would call it) while our floors on the main level were being refinished and the rooms painted. We had a microwave, a sink, a refrigerator, a coffee maker and an electric skillet. On weekends I had access to the kitchen, although the cabinets and fridge were sealed closed, so mostly I got to use the stove/oven and the dishwasher. About halfway through our "exile" I saw this post about Dark Chocolate Ice Cream on the wonderful blog Ice Cream Ireland (by Kieran Murphy, one of the brothers who own Murphy's Ice Cream in Ireland), and that weekend I managed to make the ice cream, preparing it on the kitchen stove, churning it in the basement, and shooting the picture on the concrete outside the basement door. And it was totally worth it.

Speaking of exile, Wallis Simpson (the Duchess of Windsor) famously said "you can never be too rich or too thin," and although the wisdom of that is questionable enough, I've found that in the case of chocolate ice cream, it is either rich or thin but not both. This post will explore the "rich" side of chocolate ice cream; the next post the "thin" side.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the recipe on the link above. I was lucky enough to locate a copy of the Murphy's Book of Sweet Things, which I got for my birthday. It is full of wonderful ice cream recipes and other sweets, but even if you don't have access to the book there are lots of wonderful recipes on the Ice Cream Ireland site. In fact, this recipe is on the site but not in the book.

- This is a custard-type of ice cream. I used 5 very small yolks, from some of the smaller of my farm box eggs.

- The recipe calls for is a LOT of cocoa. I left out the optional chocolate chips.

- I'm not sure what exactly I did wrong, but when I mixed the egg yolks + cocoa + sugar I ended up with a solid fudge-y mass - it was not possible to beat it. I persisted and cooked the custard, although it was so thick that I had to rely on temperature alone for doneness.

- When chilled, the mixture became nearly solid. I knew that it would taste too thick for me, so before churning I loosened it by stirring in about 1/4 cup of milk and cream.

- According to the recipe, right before churning, whipped cream is folded into the chocolate mixture. I made sure my bowl and beaters were well chilled (put them in the freezer for awhile) so my whipped cream would be very cold.

the verdict:

This ice cream was very intense, very rich, and very delicious. It tasted a lot like frozen (rich) pudding. My husband is allergic to chocolate so it was completely up to me to eat this and I did my best to live up to the challenge. I rationed it out to myself a spoonful or two at a time as a special treat. That came to an abrupt end when in the course of rearranging my freezer I inadvertently left this ice cream on the counter, and didn't notice until two days later. It was a sad moment indeed when I poured it down the drain...