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–+ servings

Milk Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Ice cream base recipe adapted from The Perfect Scoop (Ten Speed Press)
I use a mid-strength amaro for this one, Ramazzoti, which falls pleasantly within the mid-range range of bitter and sweet. Some amari are quite intense and bitter (like Fernet-Branca and Cynar), others are herbaceous and/or less-aggressive (such as Averna, Nonino, Sfumato, and Montenegro), and it's hard to give an exact quantity. So start with 2 tablespoons and add more to taste. Remember that the flavor will recede a bit once churned and frozen, so err on the side of a little stronger, but don't add too much or the ice cream won't freeze properly. Generally speaking, you don't want to add any more than 4 tablespoons (60ml) of a spirit that's 30-40% ABV to one quart (1l) of ice cream.In place of the amaro you can substitute 1-2 tablespoons of cognac, whiskey, dark rum, or another spirit, or leave it out. If you don't have an ice cream machine, check out my post Making Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Machine.
Course Dessert
Keyword amaro, chocolate, ice cream
Servings 8 servings

For the ice cream custard

  • 8 ounces (230g) dark milk chocolate, (with cocoa solids percentage of around 30%)
  • 1 cup (250ml) whole milk
  • 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons amaro, or to taste (see headnote)

For the chocolate chips

  • 5 ounces (140g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
  • Chop the milk chocolate into small pieces and put them in a medium bowl. Set a mesh strainer over the top.
  • Heat the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan.
  • In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Pour the warm milk gradually into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula just until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Don't overcook or boil.
  • Immediately strain the custard into the bowl of milk chocolate. Stir gently with a spatula or whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in the heavy cream, vanilla, and amaro. Chill thoroughly.
  • When ready to churn, taste, and add additional amaro if desired. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
  • To make the chocolate "chips," chop the semisweet or bittersweet chocolate and put it in a small bowl. Set the bowl over a small pot of barely simmering water, stirring until melted and smooth. Be careful not to let any water, liquid, or steam into the chocolate, or it will seize. Remove from heat and set aside. (But you do want it to remain pourable so if your kitchen is cool, you may want to keep it over the warm water in the saucepan while the ice cream is churning.)
  • When the ice cream is ready, either drizzle the melted chocolate as slowly as possible in a thin, steady stream into the ice cream while the dasher is turning (some may cling to the dasher, but you can just scrape that off later) or working quickly, layer the ice cream into a chilled container, drizzling some of the chocolate over each layer as you go and using a spoon or butter knife to break up the chocolate into little bits. Note that if you use a spoon, do not use the same spoon that you use for dipping into the chocolate that you do for stirring the chips as the chocolate will seize if you get a small amount of the custard (or any liquid) in it.