A super smooth and creamy chocolate ice cream that is perfect for the summertime. Throw in your favorite add-ins for a candy-bar like treat! Jeni’s milkiest chocolate ice cream is one of our favorites!
Is there anything more perfect than ice cream in the summertime? I don’t think so. My family and I have become such ice cream snobs that we’ll only visit the places with the best ice cream and buy the smoothest and creamiest brands (when I’m not making my own batches).
We haven’t touched any of the airy, cheap grocery brands in what seems like forever. One of our favorite brands is Jeni’s ice creams, even though we’ve never technically bought a pint. We’ve eaten them while on vacation at their scoop shops, and I’ve even received an ice cream party in a box as a holiday gift, but I technically have never bought any in a store to take home. Crazy, right?
Since I own the cookbook, it makes sense to churn my own. That way, I get more ice cream for my money and we can customize our own add-ins. While I have seen Jeni’s ice creams at my local grocery store, they are pretty expensive (the recent sale price was still $8-$9). I can make it for a fraction of the price.
When my husband asked me to make a baked Alaska for his birthday, the recipe asked for two pints of store-bought ice cream. Now, there was no way that I was going to use store bought ice cream for his special birthday treat so I had to make my own. The recipe suggested vanilla and coffee as the flavor combinations. But because Addie was going to have some of the baked Alaska, I didn’t want to use coffee ice cream (hello, caffeine). So I opted for chocolate instead – this milky chocolate ice cream from Jeni’s.
I’ll write about the baked Alaska in another post, but the ice cream itself was super smooth, creamy and was reminiscent of a dreamy chocolate bar. Feel free to throw in your favorite add-ins: chocolate chips, nuts, marshmallows… you name it. Think about your favorite candy bar and include those ingredients into this ice cream so you have an ice cream version of your ultimate chocolate indulgence.
Jeni's milkiest chocolate ice cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate ideally 55%-70% cocoa
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. Set this aside. Reserve the remaining milk and keep it separate.
- Chop the chocolate and place it in a large bowl. Set a fine mesh sieve above it.
- In a medium sized saucepan, heat the cream, remaining milk, evaporated milk, sugar and corn syrup on medium to medium-high heat until boiling. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until it is fully incorporated. Continue boiling for 4 minutes.
- Take the saucepan off the stove and very carefully add the cornstarch/milk slurry. Mix until everything is well incorporated and put the pan back on the stove. Allow the mixture to come back to a boil and until the liquid becomes slightly thicker, about 1 minute.
- Turn off the stove and pour the liquid through the sieve into the large bowl with the chopped chocolate. Add the salt and mix well until everything is fully incorporated.
- At this point, you have two options. You can either set the ice cream over an ice bath (pour the contents into a large zip-top bag, seal it shut and place it over a large bowl with ice cubes), or put it in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
- Once the mixture is completely cool, churn it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.
- Pour the ice cream into a container and set it in the freezer until it has hardened (at least 4 hours).