Rich Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Because it took too much work to lug things back and forth between the kitchen and my dorm room to make ice cream any fancier than just cream, cocoa powder, some sugar, and a bunch of crushed oreos, I never really branched out and tried anything extremely decadent.  Although, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the simple chocolate oreo I’ve been making up until now.  I could mix it all up in my room, and it tastes fantastic.  You can’t go wrong with it.  But I do want to make some better ice cream.

Being at home, I have a kitchen at my disposal, which means I can melt chocolate..dark chocolate.. without having to move anything back and forth other than the ice cream maker, since it’s kept in our basement!  So of course I had to make an extremely chocolatey ice cream.  And oooh is it rich.  I think one scoop of this would be enough, which is absolutely insane – I can NEVER get enough ice cream.

I swoon to think of all the toppings I could use for this.. I first tried it with some butterscotch syrup (fantastic!), and I think some fresh berries would be pure heaven.  Maybe some Reese’s?  Or just a swirl of peanut butter?  Oreos would always be good..  I’m going to have fun with this batch – I have a whole quart!  But then again, I also have a family that loves ice cream just as much as I do.  I’ll have to make more after tonight!

Chocolate Ice Cream
adapted from The Perfect Scoop
2 ¼ cups half-and-half (I used fat free..it was all they had!)
6 T cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
6 oz. dark chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli’s 86% bar and double chocolate bittersweet chocolate chips)
1 cup milk (I used fat free)
1 t vanilla
¼ t instant espresso powderWhisk the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt together in a large sauce pan.  Heat until it comes to a full boil, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and whisk in the dark chocolate until completely melted.  Add the milk, vanilla and instant espresso powder.  Blend for 30 seconds with either a blender or an immersion blender until smooth to prevent any grittiness from the chocolate.  Place into a medium bowl and chill in the fridge for about 4 hours.  Pour into your ice cream maker and freeze according to its instructions.  Freeze until firm, about four hours.