Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 4 ounces 60% baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups milk, whole or low fat
• 2 cups heavy cream
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee
• 3 egg yolks, whisked
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you’re improvising, set a metal bowl over a small saucepan of boiling water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
2. Once the chocolate is melted, move it to a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Set the heat to medium low, then add the boiling water, cocoa powder, and half of the sugar. Whisk it briskly until the mixture is completely smooth, then take the pan off the heat.
3. Whisk the milk, 1 cup of the cream, the remaining sugar, the instant coffee if you’re using it, and the salt into the chocolate mixture until everything is fully blended. Scrape along the bottom and sides of the pan with a rubber spatula so nothing sneaky gets left behind.
4. Put the pan back over medium high heat and warm the mixture, stirring now and then, until it begins to steam.
5. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks. When the chocolate mixture is hot and steamy, slowly pour some of it into the yolks while whisking constantly and vigorously, so the eggs warm up without scrambling.
6. After about half of the chocolate mixture has been whisked into the eggs, pour the egg mixture back into the pan with the remaining chocolate base and stir until combined.
7. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the base until it reaches 170 degrees F. It should be slightly thicker and just starting to steam again. Remove the pan from the heat.
8. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of cold cream to stop the cooking.
9. Pour the chocolate base through a mesh strainer into a bowl to catch any solids or curds. Set the bowl in an ice bath to help it cool more quickly, then stir in the vanilla.
10. Chill the ice cream base for several hours, preferably overnight, until it is completely cold. To make this go faster, you can keep the base in its bowl set in the ice bath and place it in the freezer for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
11. Churn the chilled base in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. If you want soft ice cream, you can eat it right away. If you want it firmer, transfer it to a freezer container and freeze it for a couple of hours.
12. When you first pull the ice cream from the freezer, it may be very firm, so let it sit for a few minutes before scooping.