Triple Chocolate Ice Cream

So Jake and I bought a house in the burbs last year. At first I thought it was going to take some serious getting used to. Let me explain - Jake and I would frequent Cold Stone Creamery at LEAST once a week during the summer. There was one right down the street from us when we lived in the city. I'm pretty sure I've tried every single flavor this place has to offer. And I've mixed almost everything into my ice cream - which is one of the best things ever about Cold Stone. AMIRIGHT?? Clearly, dessert is a priority in my life. 

Lucky for my stomach, we happened to move to a place that is in VERY close proximity to a frozen yogurt place. This became my new obsession. Honestly, Jake and I ended up at this fantastic establishment twice a week. We had a problem - the amount of money we spent here is sad. There's really no other word for it. But dammit, that stuff is good.

Anyway, one of my fabulous bridesmaids bought me an ice cream maker that I can hook up to my KitchenAid mixer. Once I started using this fantastic appliance, I sort of forgot (I use the words 'sort of' very loosely) about my love affair with frozen yogurt. I was eating real, full-on-fat, creamy delicious ice cream again. I was hooked. Now, I'm constantly looking up new ice cream recipes to try. Jake suggested I try a chocolate ice cream recipe (he was always a sucker for the chocolate shakes at Cold Stone). Alas, I share with you my recipe for Triple Chocolate Ice Cream.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whipping cream, divided
• 2 squares (1 oz. each square) semisweet baking chocolate, cut into chunks
• 2 squares (1 oz. each square) unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into chunks
• 2 cups half & half
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 8 egg yolks
• 4 tsps vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped milk chocolate (from ~4 bars of milk chocolate)

How to:

• In a small saucepan, place 1/2 cup whipping cream, semisweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate. Heat over medium-low heat until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat & set aside.
• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat half & half until very hot but not boiling, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.
• In a small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder. Set aside.
• Place egg yolks in a mixer bowl. Whisk eggs while gradually adding adding in sugar mixture until well blended and slightly thickened. 
• While continually whisking, very gradually add in chocolate mixture and half & half. Mix until well blended.
• Return mixture to saucepan. While stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until small bubbles form around the edge and the mixture is steamy - do not boil.
• Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in remaining whipping cream, vanilla, and salt. Cover and chill thoroughly in fridge, at least 8 hours.
• Make ice cream in an ice cream maker, according to its directions, adding in the milk chocolate during the last 1-2 minutes of freeze time.

I followed the recipe for Triple Chocolate Ice Cream that's outlined in the little booklet that came with my ice cream maker. Of all the different types of ice cream I've experimented with, this was my most successful. I found that freezing the ice cream maker attachment and chilling the prepared mix for at least 24 hours and overnight, respectively, yielded the best consistency. When Jake tried this, he legit said to me "This tastes like real ice cream. You could serve this to people and they would have no idea you made it." Thanks? Haha, that's what I was going for!

Enjoy!