Creamy Chocolate Ice-Cream (with dairy free option)
Servings: 1 litre
Ingredients
- 150 g golden caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks freeze the whites for later use
- 600 g full fat cream I use Bannister Downs if I can get it, or for dairy free use coconut cream (I use Ayam brand)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean extract
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 100 g to 200g dark chocolate 50% or over (see note about chopping into pea sizes ... start with 100g and do more as needed)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients except the chocolate into TM bowl and cook 8 minutes / 80 / speed 4
- Place 100g of pea size chocolate into ™ bowl, replace lid and allow to sit for 10 to 15 seconds to start melting, then blend for 10 seconds / speed 4 and all the chocolate should have melted
- Taste, and if you want more of a chocolate flavour, add another 50g chocolate and repeat process
- Taste again, and add another 50g if needed (this will all depend on the strength of the chocolate used)
- Put mix into a container ... leave it at room temperature to cool for about an hour, then put into the fridge until it is cold (about another hour)
- Container can now go into the freezer for 8 hours (I like to leave it overnight)
- Remove container from the freezer and let it sit for 25 minutes on the bench to soften so that you can get a spoon into it (set a timer so you don’t forget it!)
- Spoon the mix into the TM bowl and blend 20 seconds / speed 9, stir mix around and repeat if there are still a lot of lumps
- Finally blend for 10 seconds / speed 4, stir mix around and repeat if there is still a lump or two
- Place mix to a container and refreeze for another 8 hours before serving
Notes
When including chocolate in the recipe, there are some points I need to mention:
1. Firstly, don't use milk chocolate ... it already has lots of milk and sugar in it and will not give the "chocolate" flavour that you would want out of a chocolate ice-cream
2. If wishing to do dairy free (so using coconut cream instead of dairy) use a dairy free dark chocolate (all of Whittakers' dark chocolate over 50% are dairy free, and there are other brands available in the health food section of supermarkets or health food shops)
3. I used 200g of 55% dark chocolate and that was perfect for us ... but this all depends on the depth of flavour you are after so only use the amount you want ... start by adding 100g, mix in and taste, then add another 50g, mix in and taste, and so forth ... I personally wouldn't go over 200g as I think that is about as rich as you would want to go
4. I don't mill the chocolate at the beginning of the recipe as I am uncertain of how much I am going to use, so just chop up (pea size pieces) 100g to start with, and as you wish to add more, chop the extra amount of chocolate to add as you go ... I used chocolate callets so they are already pea size and were small enough to melt quickly, but that is roughly the size you want
5. My friend ended up using 100g of 70% chocolate which for them was perfect ... so the amount used is really up to you according to your taste buds
6. The base recipe is very creamy and delicious - we love it - but you will find that with the addition of the real chocolate it is even creamier which is due to the cocoa butter in the chocolate ... because of this I found I had to allow the chocolate to sit for 25 minutes straight out of the freezer before whipping, and I had to stir it a couple of times in-between to ensure all of the mix was blended together before putting in back into the freezer for the final set
7. I don't have an ice-cream churner, but once the initial mix is prepared there is no reason why you can't use one ... this will just speed up the process and you will have chocolate ice-cream ready for you before you know it ... otherwise you will need to start this recipe the day before you need it (like I do)