For all you ice cream lovers

One of my favourite blogs is Mennonite Girls Can Cook. There are such great recipes on there, tried and true recipes. I am in no way gong to put recipes up here daily, or regularly for that fact. But there is on recipe that I want to share. It is kind of a specialty recipe, as in you need a special kitchen appliance for this recipe. You need an Ice Cream Maker. Growing up, when we got together with my cousins there was always an ice ream maker churning. It was a hand crank one and we all took turns cranking it while we were waiting for our turn in the scrub baseball game that was going on.

I told my husband many years ago that he is not to give me appliances for my birthday or Christmas. So one Christmas I start unwrapping a gift and I see a box that says Cuisinart, I give him the look of " you know the rules and you just broke the rules". As I opened it all the way and saw what it was I was enthralled. This was no ordinary appliance, this was different. He knew how much I loved Ice Cream and new how much I would love to make my own...so he was safe.

FYI they are regularly about $80 at Canadian Tire

I have used it soooo many times. It takes a little thinking ahead, but it is so worth it. I almost could use 2 of them some times. In summer(or any other season for that fact) it is great having friends down and having an Ice Cream bar with different flavours and toppings.

So here is one of my most favourite kinds of ice cream. This is a combination of a few recipes I have tried and to me this one is simply divine.

FRENCH SILK CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

Put 2 cups whipping cream and 2 cups whole milk in a large sauce pan, whisk in a very full 1/3 cup of dutch refined cocoa, then bring to a barely boiling point and then reduce heat to low medium heat. While waiting for that to boil... whisk 2 egg yolks, add 2/3 cup of white sugar and 1 tbsp of vanilla to the eggs...mix well. When milk has barely boiled add about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture to the egg mixture( this is called tempering the eggs), stir well. Then slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan , stirring constantly. While stirring slowly let it come to a very soft rolling boil, reduce heat to low and let thicken until it coats the back of a spoon, about 3-4 minutes. Take off element and let cool. Pour into a bowl( I usually use a glass one as the mixture is still a little warm) and put plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture, covering every inch of the exposed mixture. Put in the fridge for at least 12 hours, overnight is best.

Now if you have an ice cream maker, most of this is not new to you and you just follow the instructions to churn it.

A few things I have learned along the way:

~Use whole milk and whipping cream, if you use 2% milk or less, it is not as smooth and creamy. Same with the whipping cream. I know you are just looking at all the fat content here, but I just think about what isn't in it, because it is home made and there is nothing you can't pronounce in it. Just enjoy it!

~Dutch refined cocoa, now you can use regular stuff and it will taste good, but the dutch refined just makes it that much more richer in flavour. Can be found in Costco or Superstore.

~The mixture really needs to be cooled that much or it won't harden when you churn it.

~ I like to make it 1 hour before we eat it. I put it in the freezer for that time and it is a great consistency to eat, not too hard and not too soft.

~Make sure the well of your ice cream maker is completely frozen, it really does need to be in a deep freezer for 24 hours.

So enjoy! I have some other recipes if you like. If you like mint chip, I have an absolutely amazing one as well.