The Best Chocolate Ice Cream

Directions

Pre-freeze your ice cream maker’s freezer bowl at least 24 hours ahead!

In a large, heavy-gauge saucepan whisk together the milk, cream, half the sugar, vanilla and salt. Place over medium heat and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining ½ cup sugar. Whisk until mixture is thick and a pale yellow. Whisk in chocolate. Mixture will be thick!

Temper the Egg Yolks: Add ¼ cup of the boiling cream mixture slowly to the egg mixture while constantly whisking. Once that has been incorporated, add another ½ cup of the cream mixture in a steady stream while whisking. Add the egg yolk mixture to the sauce pan with the remaining cream mixture. Whisk constantly while pouring the chocolate mixture into the remaining cream; you don’t want burnt chocolate! Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and it coats the back of the spoon. This took approximately 5 minutes. Do not let the mixture boil.

Pour into a large bowl, let cool several hours at room temperature or you could use an ice bath to speed it up, cover and refrigerate at least 5 hours or until cold. Overnight is best. The mixture will be thick like pudding.

Place your container to hold the ice cream in the freezer. Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the cream mixture into the moving, frozen bowl. Churn 25-30 minutes or until the ice cream is soft and creamy but thick. It should be coming out the top of the freezer, churning bowl.

Place the ice cream in the cold storage container, cover and refrigerate 2 hours or more.