Dark chocolate ice cream

The real deal - Intensely chocolatey with a creamy texture

Published originally on my blog on 14 September 2011

As I'm writing this, it is pouring rain outside. The wind is howling and I can see the trees from my window swinging back and forth like green giants caught in a storm, trying to find their balance by opening their huge, leafy arms wide open.

As I'm writing this, I'm eating ice cream. It is not the typical thing one would eat in such a weather but I have always been a stubborn person. I'm still resisting the idea that it is officially autumn.

I'm in an ice cream-making mode for quite some time now and I'm not planning to stop. Not in the foreseeable future. Not unless S gets sick of testing my icy experiments or I get sick of craving them—neither will be happening any time soon, I can assure you. So be warned; you might see some out of season ice cream recipes here in the following months. I hope you're game.
I have always been crazy for chocolate ice cream but I've been reluctant to make it myself for a very long time. I thought that it couldn't possibly be as good as the ones from my favorite ice cream shops so why bother. Boy, was I wrong.

When my first chocolate ice cream came out of the freezer, I couldn't believe I was the one that had made it. It was intensely chocolatey with a creamy texture that made me scream with joy. I had of course David Lebovitz, the ice cream genius, and his "Perfect Scoop", my ice cream bible, to thank for its success.

There's really no need to be intimidated by the idea of making ice cream. It's rather simple once you get the hang of it. Making the custard is perhaps the most tricky part, making sure your eggs don't separate or curdle, but apart from that, everything else is a piece of cake.

Yes, you'll probably need an ice cream maker to achieve a smooth texture and the right consistency, but I have tried it the old-fashioned way too and it was still pretty good.

My mom was visiting last month from Greece and I made this ice cream for her. My mom doesn't like ice cream. In fact, my mom hates ice cream; particularly chocolate ice cream. When she tasted this one though, she asked for a second scoop, and the next day she went snooping in the freezer to eat some more.
Man, it felt good to finally make an ice cream lover out of her.

Homemade Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

It is very important that you use a chocolate whose flavor you enjoy because that's how your ice cream will taste. Make sure that it's a good quality chocolate as well.

I have made this ice cream with 70% as well as with 55% chocolate and it was equally flavorsome. As expected, if you use 70% chocolate, your ice cream will have a more bitter chocolate taste.

After churning the ice cream, you can add some chopped chocolate [if I write the word chocolate one more time I will scream] in order to give it a more intense chocolate [insert scream here] flavor.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, don't fret. Below, I'm including instructions on how to make the ice cream without it.