Chocolate Ice Cream Trumps Memories Of Bad Ice Milk

When I think of the homemade ice cream of my childhood I think of only one thing:

peaches.

We had a plethora of fruit trees when I was a kid- a peach tree in the front yard, and then the backyard had two apple trees, an apricot tree, a plum tree, a poorly performing pear tree, an abundance of grape vines, a number of berry bushes, and- until we got a dog- a strawberry patch.

There was also an ill-fated artichoke plant in there for a few years, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count as fruit.

Or does it?

I don't know.  Maybe I'll look it up later.

Either way, I'm pretty sure it has no place in ice cream.

Anyway, we had a ridiculous variety of fruit, and I might even be forgetting a thing or two!

For real.

Our friends and neighbors got so. sick. of fruit.

So did we come to think of it!

What we didn't eat fresh or pawn off on whoever would take it was made into fruit leather, baked into cobblers (that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole as a staunchly 'anti-cooked fruit' child), frozen and forgotten in the back of the freezer, or made into ice cream.

No...more like...ice...milk?

My mom was all about the health food back in the day.

Lets just say that these days when I pore over ice cream recipes and excuses to use my new ice cream maker the only recipes I actively avoid are those that involve peaches lol.

Not to say that there aren't some amazing peach ice cream recipes out there...I just tend to go back to that funky ice-milk, healthy-ish place in my mind when I think about them so instead I lean more towards things like that AMAZING Peanut Butter S'mores variety (still our #1 favorite!) and chocolate.

So remember the other day when I said I was exhausted after staying up late for fireworks and "festivities"?

Well, lets just say that I was not out partying.

Nope.  I came home from the fireworks and decided, "Hey, it's 10pm, I should make ICE CREAM!"

Because that's totally normal...right?

I went with this recipe for Very Chocolate Ice Cream, mainly because it was one of the first recipes I came across and it was highly rated.  I've taken to keeping my ice cream maker in the freezer and heavy cream in the fridge this summer for ice cream making emergencies just such as this!

While I've appreciated the no-cook ice cream recipes I've made thus far, I really did like the custardy nature of of this chocolate ice cream and it definitely lived up to its name.  Cool, creamy, rich, smooth...everything a chocolate ice cream should be!

Very Chocolate Ice Cream

From Allrecipes.com

3/4 C sugar

1 C milk

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 C heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine sugar, milk, salt, and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer. 

2. Place the egg yolks into a small bowl. Gradually stir in about 1/2 cup of the hot liquid. and return to the saucepan. Heat until thickened, but do not boil. Remove from the heat, and stir in the chopped chocolate until chocolate is melted. 

3. Pour into a chilled bowl, and refrigerate for about two hours until cold, stirring occasionally.

4. When chocolate mixture has completely cooled, stir in the cream, and vanilla. Pour into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.