simple chocolate ice cream

We have joined a dairy co-op.  This particular group of people buys raw milk and other dairy products (cheese, sour cream, butter) from a farmer who practices safely and sustainably in Kentucky.  We take turns driving there and picking up for everyone else on Mondays.

So far, we've just dipped our toes in the water with one gallon of milk per week.  This one gallon of milk is for the unbelievably low price of $3.75 (plus fifty cents for the jug).  When you consider that the Kroger brand milk is almost three dollars for the same amount, this fresh, wholesome, delicious raw milk begins to seem like quite a bargain.

The milk is non-homogenized in addition to being unpasteurized, so there is a thick creamline across the top (really more like the middle - 1/3 the way down.  LOTS of cream!).  I made the mistake of not shaking it up before pouring it over my raisin bran the other morning:  it was like eating cereal with whipped cream.  Intense.

My immediate thought was:  ice cream.  I needed to harness the potential of this gorgeous milk and cream and make something frozen and delightful.  I settled on chocolate because we had cocoa powder and it sounded good.  Not much seasonal fruit besides apples right now, and apple ice cream didn't sound super-delicious.

This is so simple.  I use an eggless base for ice cream - also known as Philadelphia-style.  As I wrote in one of my very first recipe posts, I tried a custard base, and it was just too much cold fat in my mouth.  I like the milky/icy nature of the eggless (it reminds me a bit of an old-school Frosty).  There is no cooking involved in this recipe, because I don't need to impart any fruit or other flavor aside from the cocoa into the base.  The one downside was that the cocoa powder caused a bit of graininess (I noticed, Jeff didn't).  If you want it velvety, melt 6 or 8 oz of good-quality dark chocolate over a double boiler and stir in rather than using cocoa powder.

Chocolate Ice Cream

 

Whole milk and cream to make 3 cups (the more cream, the richer the ice cream - try for at least half and half)
3/4 C cocoa powder
1/2 C honey
2 t vanilla extract
1/4 t salt


Whisk the milk and cream together in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk in the cocoa powder until well-combined.  This will take a bit.  Just keep whisking.  Whisk in honey, vanilla and salt - again, the honey will take a little while to incorporate.



It's helpful to use a spouted cup for pouring into the maker, rather than pouring from the mixing bowl.

Put the mixture in the fridge for half an hour to really chill down. Pull out your ice cream maker. Freeze the mixture according to the directions for your individual machine. When it's done, scrape it out into a container and let it harden in the freezer for several hours.

 I've heard it's really good scooped into a cup of coffee. Maybe for breakfast.

 

i scream

Ever since I finally sprung for my amazing ice cream maker, I've been dreaming about all the different ice creams, frozen yogurts, and sorbets I'm going to make.  And I've actually done a fairly good job of fulfilling these promises to myself:  lemon sorbet (too tart!), plain froyo (delish!), coffee ice cream, and nectarine ice cream have all inhabited our freezer at various times in the last three weeks.  The nice part about making my own frozen treats is that I know exactly what goes into them, and also that they last nearly forever (we are bad at eating leftovers).

Because of my obsession with Pinkberry (why oh why do I live in the provinces!?), plain tart frozen yogurt was the first on the docket.  I was going to just make this whole post an ode to tart froyo, but the recipe is too simple to even be a recipe:

3 C plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
2/3 C sugar (more if you want it sweeter, but I wouldn't do less - this was quite tart)
Stir together until well mixed.  Freeze according to instructions on ice cream maker.  Store in freezer.  Makes about a quart.

Seriously - that's it!  I've been enjoying it with berries, sometimes even for breakfast, for the last several weeks.

Because we have a truly amazing family-owned dairy in our community, I wanted to take advantage and make some excellent ice cream.  Never having made my own before, I did a little internet research and quickly found out about the custard vs. non-custard debate.  Since all the foodier sources recommended eggs, and I had three dozen eggs to use up from our also-amazing CSA (another post!), I went for the custard base. 

It was wayyyy too rich for me!  Every time I ate the coffee ice cream I made with five egg yolks, I felt like my mouth was coated in butter.  Apparently this was the "smoother mouthfeel" the foodists love so much.  It felt like I had been eating Crisco, no joke. 

So, the next time I went in for ice cream, I had nectarines to use up.  I found a good-looking, non-custard-based recipe, and based mine on it.  We didn't have milk, so I used all cream.  It was truly just iced cream.  It's amazing.  I love it.  But I can't eat it for breakfast, because each half-cup serving has 304 calories.  Just sayin.  Here 'tis.

3 large nectarines
3/4 C sugar
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 C heavy cream
1 t vanilla
1/4 t lemon zest
salt

Peel and slice nectarines, and put the peels and pits into a medium saucepan.  Put the slices into a food processor with 1/2 C sugar and lemon juice, and pulse to a rough chop.  Chill the nectarine mixture.  Add the cream, 1/4 C sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and a pinch of salt to the peelings and pits and heat over medium fire until hot but not boiling.  Remove from heat, cover, let come to room temp, and then chill thoroughly (minimum 1 hour).  Strain cream mixture through fine mesh strainer into a bowl, add the chilled nectarine mixture, and stir to combine.  Freeze in ice cream maker according to instructions, and store in freezer.  Makes about a quart.  As I said above, a half-cup serving contains 304 calories.