DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ALMOND ICE-CREAM

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

This is my new favorite ice-cream flavour. I renounce all previous claims stating otherwise.

I’m not much of a sweets gal, but this hits all the right spots. Helping me get through those bad days. Those days when we wonder if the pandemic is over. Those days when we realize we really do love our family, but could they all maybe just leave the house for a few hours? Those days when we become scared at the thought that we won’t be able to live in these stretchy pants forever. And the worst days are the ones when we wonder if we can actually hug our peeps again.

Well that was depressing. Now lets talk about ice-cream.

I’ve been pretty busy lately, working a lot on my online classes and updating some old recipes. I haven’t really developed anything new. This flavour came about by accident last week, as most of my ice-cream flavours do. I had made my normal vanilla base of which I was going to add something to at some point. But this time, I needed chocolate. So I threw in some cocoa, added some chocolate and almonds and boom, perfection was churned.

Well, actually it wasn’t. After about 20 minutes, I noticed that it was not freezing. Remember everyone, I live in Mexico. When a non-necessary appliance like an ice-cream maker dies, you can’t just call the manufacturer or go to Walmart to get another one. My machine is almost 10 years old, came in a suitcase from Ontario, and I have treasured it every moment since it arrived in my kitchen. When my husband brought it home I actually asked why. (I’m one of those people who gets so excited about a new appliance, only to use it once or twice, and then it collects dust and I feel bad. I know I’m not alone. I was worried this would turn into that).

I was wrong. We have been churning ice-cream in this beauty non-stop. We sold it at our store when we had it, and now we just make it for ourselves and our friends. So you can imagine my dismay when I peered in and saw nothing happening.

I called my husband. I started to fret. He asked me all the usual questions: was the bowl in the freezer long enough? Yes. Was the mixture chilled? Yes. Has it been churning long enough? Yes. He was convinced that it was human error (meaning my fault) and that the bowl had not seen its last days. I wanted him to be wrong, but I also wanted him to be right. Ugg.

He was right. I must have done something wrong because the next time I tried to churn this, it worked beautifully again. Whew! My favorite appliance lives! And now I will share my latest happiness with you.

You can use other nuts besides almonds, if you want, but in my opinion, almonds are the perfect choice. Plus you can save some of this beauty and sprinkle on top!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars
• 3/4 cup chopped almonds

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium size saucepan over medium heat, whisk and warm whipping cream, milk, sugar and cocoa until sugar and cocoa are dissolved and mixture is warm. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks together. When mixture on stove is warm to the touch, whisk a little of the cream mixture slowly into the egg yolks until combined. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan. Stir with a flat bottomed wooden spoon until the mixture coats the back of the spoon so that when you run your finger over it, it leaves a line. Take off heat. Pour through a sieve into a bowl. Add vanilla. Stir and let cool. Cover. Refrigerate overnight.

Put chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Start with 30 seconds. Take out and stir. Repeat in 15 second increments until chocolate is melted and smooth. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Spread chocolate evenly over pan. Chop almonds. Sprinkle almonds over melted chocolate. Put in the freezer until frozen.

Churn ice-cream in your machine. During the last five minutes of churning, add chocolate in chunks of any size you desire. Transfer to freezable container. Freeze.