Tuesday, August 10, 2010

{TWD} Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

I make a lot of ice cream. Summer and winter, I churn ice cream nearly every week. In fact, my ice cream maker has earned a permanent place on my kitchen counter and I try to always have the canister frozen and ready to churn a new batch of ice cream. The most common flavor around here is vanilla, because that is my husband's favorite, but I make my share of chocolate as well (and when it comes to chocolate, my share is usually pretty much all of it since my husband is allergic to chocolate!) As luck would have it, we invited some friends over for dinner last week and I knew that this week's assigned Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream, would be the perfect dessert. I altered it a tiny bit to meet dietary restrictions and preferences, but the end result was still quite wonderful.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- - Katrina of Baking and Boys picked this Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream. Find the recipe on her post.

- Very dark chcolate is a favorite of mine, so I used a combination of Callebaut bittersweet and Green & Black 85% chocolate to make the ganache.

- One of my guests is sensitive to milk (but not cream) so I replaced the milk with coconut milk. I've done this before in chocolate ice cream; and the coconut flavor is not actually detectable, and the ice cream's texture is nice and creamy.

- I used palm sugar rather than granulated. This has become a favorite sugar of mine - thanks to Sarah of Blue Ridge Baker for pointing it out to me.

- To bring out the flavor, I added pinch of salt.

- The custard was very thick and pudding-like. It was so thick that I knew it wouldn't churn very well. I was temped to just skip the ice cream maker and freeze the custard, but I ened up churning it for several minutes anyway.

the verdict:

My daughter JDE said this ice cream was the Platonic ideal of the kind of chocolate frozen treat that a fudgsicle is but a mere earthly reflection. Put another way: this ice cream is similar to a Fudgsicle but far better tasting.

I found it to be a very creamy, subtle chocolate ice cream. I've made chocolate ice cream that was more intensely chocolate in flavor (lots of cocoa powder involved), and I've made chocolate ice cream that was more mysteriously complex in flavor (based on steeped cocoa nibs), but this is a nice, straightforward, deeply chocolate ice cream.

11 comments:

Katrina said...

Looks great, Nancy. This was super rich to me, and I could only eat a bite or two (every time I made it, 4-5 times.) ;)
Thanks so much for churning with me this week. (I make a lot of ice cream here, too.)

natalia said...

Ciao Nancy !! I love your idea of keeping the ice crem bowl always in the freezer ! I've used 85 % chocolate too in spite of the kids taste....!

Di said...

Looks delicious, Nancy! I'm spoiled--my ice cream maker came with an extra canister when I bought it, so as soon as I take the one out of the freezer to make something, the other one goes in. I definitely need to look for some palm sugar so I can try it.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

i love JDE's comment--ha! your ice cream does indeed look dark and delicious!

Audrey said...

I pretty much knew before I read all this week's posts that I would be making this...as soon as my canister can fit into the freezer.

Speaking of that, you might like this... being a Frapuccino addict, I splurged on vanilla bean frappuccino ice cream from Starbucks, and only Starbucks could put 'vanilla bean frappuccino' on the outside of an ice cream carton and put plain old (if very good!) vanilla ice cream inside. (It does have beans, though, you can see them.)

Happy churning!

Eliana said...

Your ice cream looks like it came out perfect Nancy :)

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

Coconut milk is a great idea. I'm surprised the coconut flavor isn't noticeable. I've never considered baking palm sugar. I only use mine when making Phad Thai and other Asian dishes.

TeaLady said...

Philosophy of Chocolate. Love what dau said. ANd she is right!!!

My canister is always ready to go. Never know when mite get the urge to make ice cream. And it is often.

Jules Someone said...

My canister is always in the freezer, too! Loved this one. But in small doses.

PheMom said...

You all are killing me! I still didn't get to make this one yet and all this talk of fudgecicles (of which I haven't had a single one this summer) is sweet torture. Love your chocolate choices!

Kayte said...

Am churning it now as I am a tad behind...don't know if I will ever post it, but figured the guys would love to eat it. Yours looks wonderful, love JDE's comment.