Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe: 4 Ice Cream-Making Tips
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: May 16, 2023 • 3 min read
Chocolate ice cream is one of life’s simple pleasures, and it’s a breeze to make. Try our easy chocolate ice cream recipe for your next after-dinner treat.
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What Is Chocolate Ice Cream?
Chocolate ice cream is a frozen dessert consisting of milk, cream, melted chocolate, and sugar flavored with cocoa powder and additional mix-ins. Some recipes may incorporate sweetened condensed milk or cornstarch as a thickening agent for creamier, easier-to-scoop ice cream.
You can add an array of toppings to a batch of homemade chocolate ice cream. Evoke rocky road with marshmallows and chopped walnuts, get your chocolate fix with chocolate chips, fudge sauce, or brownie bites, or weave in nutty, butterscotch flavors with broken peanut butter cups or crumbly chunks of toffee.
4 Tips for Making Chocolate Ice Cream
Chocolate ice cream comes in degrees of intensity. Here’s how to build up the best expression of your new favorite ice cream:
- 1. Use the no-churn method. While an ice cream maker will make a smooth, creamy texture easier to come by, you don’t need any special equipment to make ice cream at home. All you need is a little patience and a good whisk. Whipping air into the cream mixture as it freezes—once or twice an hour—will help you achieve the proper creaminess. Press a sheet of plastic wrap onto the surface of the ice cream to prevent ice crystal formation.
- 2. Chill the ice cream machine’s bowl beforehand. Instead of chilling the chocolate ice cream base overnight (which risks the chocolate turning grainy as it sits), stick the ice cream maker’s bowl in the freezer the night before you plan to churn.
- 3. Use good chocolate. The best chocolate ice cream is made with the best chocolate option available, just as the vanilla flavoring you use—be it pure vanilla extract or whole pods—will make or break homemade vanilla ice cream. While you can use chocolate syrup, you can achieve a deeper chocolate flavor with a quality bar with no added sugar or milk.
- 4. Use Dutch-process cocoa powder. Unlike most baking projects, the best cocoa powder for homemade chocolate ice cream is Dutch-process. This type of cocoa dissolves well in liquids, brings a deep chocolatey flavor, dark color, and since it is alkalized during processing, far less acidity than regular cocoa powder.
Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
makes
1 quartprep time
5 mintotal time
4 hr 10 mincook time
5 minIngredients
- 1
Heat a small saucepan of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and place a large bowl (heatproof, like stainless steel) over the top.
- 2
Place the chopped chocolate pieces in the bowl and stir every few minutes with a rubber spatula until it melts and becomes glossy. Set it aside.
- 3
In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, cream, cocoa powder, cornstarch, sugar, and salt, whisking the mixture until it becomes smooth. Remove the pan from the heat.
- 4
Working in batches, add the cream mixture to the melted chocolate and whisk to combine. If your ice cream maker requires you to chill the base before churning, let the ice cream cool to room temperature, then chill it further in the refrigerator or place the bowl in an ice bath to bring the temperature down quickly.
- 5
Transfer the chocolate base to the ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions, until the mixture has the consistency of soft serve.
- 6
Seal the canister or transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place it in the freezer to set for another 4 hours.
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