chocolate ice-cream

We can't buy good ice-cream in Uganda, and even if we wanted to buy the stuff that's not so great, it would be melted by the time we brought it home in the hot car. That's why this latest discovery is super exciting - homemade ice-cream!! Made without an ice-cream maker! In fact, made without cream! I am now obsessed with the thought of the millions of flavours of ice-cream I could experiment with, and I'm kicking myself for not having tried it earlier. And seriously, even if you live in a country where Ben & Jerry's is available within walking distance, you should try this - it's that good!

A few days ago I made vanilla ice-cream with fresh vanilla beans (big success, seriously...I'll post that recipe another time), and yesterday I made chocolate. Mmmm, is all I can say. Mmmm.

Here's the recipe!

Chocolate Ice-Cream

*adapted from David Lebovitz

2 C. milk (I used whole milk)

1/2 C. sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder

4 oz. (115 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I figured out that this is about 7 Tbsp.'s of chocolate chips)*

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

*This was really really chocolaty, which I love, but if you prefer a more subtle chocolate taste you might want to try 5 or 6 Tbsp.'s of chocolate instead of 7. Maybe less cocoa powder too. As for me I will stick to the full on chocolaty awesomeness.

In medium saucepan, warm half the milk with the sugar, salt and cocoa powder. Bring to a full boil and whisk for 30 seconds.

Reduce heat to low and stir in the chocolate until just melted. Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla and the other half of the milk.

Pour into a shallow glass baking dish (if you're not using an ice-cream maker). Let cool for a while on the counter.

Place dish in the freezer, keeping it flat. After 30 minutes, stir and scrape any frozen pieces away from the edge of the pan. Repeat every 30 minutes until the whole thing is frozen and looks like...ice-cream! This part took a few hours for me but it probably depends how cold your freezer is.

Transfer ice-cream to a sealed container and store in the freezer! Then sneak to the freezer throughout the day to sneak small bites. And large bites.