Cooking Lesson #57— Dark Chocolate Frozen Custard

Dark Chocolate Frozen Custard

How you doin’? The calendar is inching toward the Fourth of July. While we may have to forego the Independence Day parades, public fireworks displays and sporting events, we don’t have to give up our picnics, especially if they're in our own backyards—which is still probably the safest place to be.
 
I’ve had a hand-crank ice cream maker since I was in college. Later, I splurged on an electric crank device. No difference in the quality of the finished consistency of the frozen dessert, as long as you just keep cranking. For Christmas a few years back, I received a self-contained Gelato Junior ice cream maker. While having a smaller churning container, the results were still excellent. My point is, you really have to screw up badly to make a bad batch of ice cream or frozen custard.
 
Frozen Custard? That may be something new to you if you didn’t grow up in Wisconsin (think Gilles, Kitt’s, Kopp's, Leon’s and Culver’s in Milwaukee) or other mid-western states. So, what’s the difference between frozen custard and ice cream? Ice cream is made from milk, cream or a combination of the two. Frozen custard is made from milk, cream and egg yolks. Also, while the machine used to make ice cream churns air (called overrun) into it to make it have a lighter mouthfeel, frozen custard is produced in a machine that barely incorporates any additional air into it, which means it's way more smooth, dense, creamy and delicious.
 
Follow the recipe below for the best Fourth of July frozen treat ever— smooth and creamy Dark Chocolate Frozen Custard Milwaukee-style.
 
Prep time:  30 minutes
Cook time:  5 minutes
Chill time:  6 hours or overnight
Churn time:  15 minutes
Hard freeze time:  6 hours
Yield:  8 servings, or maybe just 1 if it’s been a bad day
 
Ingredients
2-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 or 2-ounces high-quality dark chocolate (64%), finely chopped
5 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
 
Directions

1. Whisk the cream, milk, sugar and cocoa powder together in a saucepan over medium heat until the mixture is thoroughly combined, and the sugar has completely dissolved.
2. Bring the mixture almost to a simmer, then stir in the dark chocolate until melted.
3. Cool the mixture just a bit so when you add the egg yolks they don’t scramble.
4. Whisk the egg yolks into the cooled cream mixture and cook until the custard is slightly thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a container, cover and refrigerate until chilled for at least 6 hours (better yet, make the custard the night before).
5. Stir the vanilla into chilled custard mixture and freeze in an ice cream machine following manufacturer's instructions.
6. Now you have two choices: you can spoon the frozen custard right out of the ice cream maker—it will be about 17⁰F. Or you can harden the custard in the freezer overnight which will produce a professional, scoopable frozen custard—your choice.

ChefSecret:  The secret ingredient for an ever-so-rich Dark Chocolate Custard is Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Dark Chocolate and Cocoa Powder. Guittard and Forbes have similar ingredients, but they may be a little bit more difficult to find. Make it your own by adding chocolate chips, marshmallow or nuts or make ice cream sandwiches—yummmmm!

#Custard #IndependenceDay #July4 #IceCream #Gilles #Leons #Kitts #Kopps #Culvers #Dessert #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19

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