Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

I wish I knew what it was that made certain things jump out of people's blogs and say "Make me! Make me now!" I'm not a big fan of chocolate ice cream. To use a Josh-style metaphor, if I was at a Chocolate Ice Cream concert, I might be tapping my toes, but I wouldn't be on my feet screaming. Yet when I saw the chocolate ice cream that Erin from Dinner & Dessert posted a few days ago, for some reason I knew I was gonna make it. I even left her a comment saying I thought it would be good with some frozen bananas mixed in. And what did I do?? 2 days later I made the ice cream and mixed in some frozen chopped up bananas. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Now, since I've already noted my bias about chocolate ice cream, I give this recipe a 3 out of 5, but let me explain why. It's not that it wasn't delicious. It was extremely good, and the pieces of banana added a refreshing taste, as well as an excuse to think you're eating "healthy." However, it was waayy too rich. I usually limit myself to one scoop of ice cream in a coffee cup (it looks bigger in a little cup, so I think I'm getting more). But I could barely finish my serving before I was feeling sick. I can't tell if it's just too sweet or too creamy. I compared this recipe to my favorite coffee ice cream. The dairy dontent is the same, but the sugar content is much higher in the chocolate ice cream. I might make it again and just reduce the amount of sugar. I also noticed that this ice cream froze hard as a rock, and the coffee ice cream stayed somewhat soft when frozen. I guess it's because the chocolate hardens... duh. But don't let my opinion discourage you from making it. If you can handle super rich, super chocolatey ice cream, then this is for you!

I'm really unhappy with these pictures. I planned on using the daylight, but when I took the ice cream out to soften so I could scoop it, I forgot about it and left it out for almost 2 hours! When it finally got hard enough to scoop again, the sun was on it's way down. I'll probably replace these pictures with better ones tomorrow. Until then, bear with me!


Chocolate Ice Cream (from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)
Makes about 1 quart

2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar (If I made it again, I'd reduce this to 2/3 cup)
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bananas, diced and frozen (optional)

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk unto the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (You want to get it nice and cold. Chilling it overnight would be best, but I chilled mine for about 4 hours), then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin out).