Thursday, 28 June 2007

• Adventures in Ice Cream

  
  

  This week I made my first attempt at ice cream in a KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment for my mixer.  The end result was the most fantabulously rich ice cream I've ever had.
  

  
  
  

  Flavor: Chocolate-Chocolate Chip
  Quantity: 1 quart
  Recipe: Adapted from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
  
  1 1/2 cups whole milk
  1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  3/4 cup sugar
  4 large egg yolks
  8 ounces melted, cooled semisweet chocolate
  1 tsp vanilla extract
  2 ounces finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate
  
  

  • Step 1: Set a medium bowl inside a larger bowl filled with ice water.  This will serve to chill the ice cream custard down.
  • Step 2: Heat the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.  Cook until steam appears and the mixture is hot (175 degrees F), about 5 minutes.
  • Step 3: When milk mixture is hot, turn off heat.  In a separate bowl, quickly whisk the egg yolks and the remaining  1/4 cup of the sugar together until smooth.  Working quickly, whisk the melted chocolate into the yolk/sugar mixture.
  • Step 4: Tempering--very important!  Slowly whisk about 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the chocolate/egg yolk mixture.  Then slowly pour the tempered egg yolks into the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly.  Turn the heat back on to medium and continue to cook until the custard is very hot but not simmering (about  180-185 degrees F).
  • Step 5: Pour custard into the chilled medium bowl and let cool, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Remove bowl from ice bath, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate custard until completely chilled, about 3 hours.
  • Step 6: Stir chilled custard well, and add the vanilla extract at this time.  Pour custard into the ice cream machine canister according to the manufacturer's instructions (all machines are slightly different).  Churn according to the machine's instructions.  During the last 2 minutes of churning, add the chopped chocolate to the ice cream.  Your ice cream should be about soft-serve consistency now.
  • Step 7: Ripening--Spread the ice cream in a shallow container, press plastic wrap flush against the surface of the ice cream, and freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

  My notes:  Regarding step 3, I had a bugger of a time with the melted chocolate.  I forgot that melted chocolate and moisture don't mix well (moisture causes melted chocolate to "seize" and become grainy and lumpy), and when I added the chocolate to the egg yolks I did not whisk quickly enough.  If you have another person handy, it would probably be best to have them pour the chocolate into the egg yolks while you whisk so you don't have any time for the chocolate to seize.  Mine did seize a little but I perservered and by the time I was done tempering in step 4, my custard was smooth as silk.  Be very sure that your custard does not simmer in step 4...stir it constantly and use medium heat--don't get hasty and jack the heat up to medium high or high to make the custard heat faster.  That will only cause the custard to break down, or worse, burn it.
  
  You can eat your ice cream when it is soft-serve consistency right out of the machine, but I really liked the hard ice cream better.  The flavors are more pronounced.  You can use any kind of semisweet (or even bittersweet) chocolate for this recipe.  I used Baker's semisweet for the melted chocolate, and Ghirardelli semisweet for the chopped chocolate.  For ripening, I found that a standard sized glass loaf pan (mine was Pyrex) works perfectly for 1 quart of ice cream.  And eat your ice cream within a week...after that it won't last very long because it contains no preservatives or artificial ingredients.
  

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