Love Potion ~ Chili Infused Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

I'm not gonna sugar coat this, today was a little rough.  The beer promo at the local pizza spot last night is a blur of peanut shells, echos of "Whatcha thinkin' bout?" and a cover band sing-shout-along with the clink of glasses keeping beat.  My face hurts from laughing and my head hurts from everything else.  

...I'm pretty sure we signed up to start our own kick ball team.

[The camera was wisely stashed not too long after this shot!]

Needless to say tonight I was craving something salty, savory, spicy and sweet.  

The menu was decided...

Grilled Salt & Peppered Filet

A Big Red Wine

and Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

I'm very new to the ice cream making world but I wasn't really up for thumbing through a bunch of recipes so I cut to the chase and googled exactly what I wanted, 
'The best chocolate ice cream ever'.

Immediately this came up...

The Best Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Ever ~ Angie McKaig

Angie, I adore you!

I made a slightly more wicked version... 

nothing goes with a peppery slab of meat and a bold red wine like chili infused dark chocolate.

The result was a chilled chewy chocolate ganache with some heat on the back end.

This love potion prompted me to run around the house cheering and talking nonsense...I may have even hugged myself.  

This is powerful stuff!  The effects take instantly so be aware of your surroundings.
 

Below you will find Angie's angel with a touch of my devil.

The Best Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Ever *

2 cup heavy cream

4 heaping tbsp good cocoa (I use Valhrona)  {I thought I had cooking cocoa but I didn't so I used a little tin of vanilla cocoa I had from the holidays.}

6 1/2 ounces good dark chocolate 62% or more (I use Callebaut chips, but you could use chopped chocolate too)  {2 Lindt Excellence Chili Dark Chocolate Bars}

1 cup milk

5 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt  {If you didn't know this already chocolate & sea salt is something of the gods!}

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

There's a lot going on here, it helps have everything out so grab your medium pot, two medium sized glass bowls, measuring cups, plastic wrap, strainer, whisk, spatula and yolk separator.

In a medium pot heat 1 cup of heavy cream with cocoa; whisk well to ensure the cocoa gets integrated properly. When cream is bubbling at the edges, remove from heat and add dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds then give it a good stir until it's all incorporated.

Add remaining cup of cream to pot, stir to combine, then pour the contents into a medium sized non-metal bowl, scraping out the pot as well as you can, and place a strainer over the bowl.

Place the pot back on the stove, and add the cup of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar and your salt. I prefer more salt (1/2 tsp.) because I think it makes the chocolate taste amazing, but if it's your first go and you are not yet a devotee of salt-to-chocolate ratios, try the 1/4 tsp and then tweak your second batch to taste.

Heat the milk and sugar gently on the stove while you get your egg yolks ready.

Whisk the egg yolks together and then grab the pot from the stove. SLOWLY drizzle warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking the entire time (this is called tempering) until everything's all combined.

Tempering

Then dump the liquid back into the pot. Stir constantly (so you don't cook the eggs) with a wooden or other heat-safe spoon or spatula over medium heat until the eggs thicken a bit, into a custard. You'll know it's done when you can hold up the spoon and run your finger through the egg-milk mixture and the line you drew with your finger stays there. (Like this.) {If you are printing this out LOOK at this link first!  I did not and had to do this step twice when I went too far taking custard to oatmeal!}

If this doesn't look right, it's because it's not...

Do over....

Yolks round two...

Pour custard through the strainer into the bowl.

It takes two...really it does, unless you are a professional juggler.

Now that's more like it!

Add vanilla extract and stir to combine the chocolatey goodness. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl, literally touching the entire surface of the ice cream base. (This means you won't get any nasty "skin" on top of the liquid.)

Refrigerate for at least 6 hours  then prepare according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Once you've got it into your final container, freeze again for at least 6 hours - trust me this stuff tastes WAY better cold, cold, cold. Remove from the freezer 10-15 minutes before eating so it has time to soften a bit before serving.  {This may surprise some of you but I couldn't wait so it only chilled through dinner and the first ten minutes of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, therefore it was more like soft serve ~but who doesn't love soft serve?!  After dodging the spinning arm of my little red iced dream maker with a long spoon a time or TEN, we wiped the chocolate from our faces and cartoned it up.  The rest of the night in the freezer will give it just the right consistency.}

Grrrrooooan, just look at that!

Makes many small servings - like fine truffles, this ice cream works best in small doses. Rich, chocolatey, creamy yummy decadence and if you'll excuse me, I must go get myself another bowl. :)

* chocolate quality matters here. Get the best dark chocolate you can get your hands on and make sure it's something you actually like to eat on its own.

The next morning...

I woke up and jumped on my laptop knowing my first responsibility was to share this average Jane's love potion when I was handed a cup of Starbuck's Sumatra sweetened with Chili Dark Chocolate Ice Cream!  

Trust me, it works...I love everything right now!