No-Ice-Cream-Maker Recipe for Premium Chocolate Ice Cream

Those of you who read this column regularly, know I gave you a quick-no-knead-keeps-forever-and-is-delicious recipe for artisan bread. If you’ve tried it, I think you will agree it is wonderful! I also promised you a quick, easy no-ice-cream-maker recipe for premium chocolate ice cream that is equally easy, fast, and non-traditional and really makes top-notch ice cream. Here it is!

I found this recipe in the June/July 2009 Cook’s Country magazine and the lead-in said “With just 10 minutes of work, we made creamy chocolate ice cream without an ice cream machine. Yes, we’re serious. (Lynn Clark) I didn’t believe it.

I have two kinds of home ice-cream machines. The first is electric and requires ice cream (rock) salt and ice—lots and lots of ice. The second has an insert that has to be chilled in a deep freezer for at least eight hours. When I get in the mood for making ice cream, I seem not to have the proper salt, enough ice, or hours and hours to wait.

Going through old cookbooks, the choices were two. The first—the hand-crank type of ice cream maker—was good, but you always had to have enough little kids around to take turns with the very long and arduous cranking task. That ice cream was soft-serve when it was done and had to be frozen even longer before “hard” ice cream formed. The second old-time method was after the home freezing compartment came into being—and was all the rage. It required freezing trays that I believe were made of metal and quite shallow—like ice cube trays without compartments. The problem with this method was that after freezing the mixture you had to stir it every 30 minutes for hours. It’s a lot easier to drive to the store and buy a half gallon.

So, you can understand my skepticism with an article called “Magic Chocolate Ice Cream” making ridiculous promises. But I am one to take the bait and I did. It was truly heavenly—especially if you like very rich, very chocolaty premium ice cream such as Hagen Daz. Here’s the recipe:

1 tsp. instant coffee or espresso powder
1 Tbsp hot water
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 ¼ cups very cold heavy cream

Combine coffee powder and hot water in a small bowl. Let stand until coffee dissolves, about 5 minutes. Microwave chocolate, sweetened condensed milk and coffee mixture in bowl, stirring every 10 seconds, until chocolate is melted, about 1 minute. Stir in vanilla and salt. Let cool. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, whip cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream into chocolate mixture until incorporated. Freeze in airtight container until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 2 weeks. Serve. If you plan to store the ice cream for more than a few days, place plastic wrap directly on its surface before freezing.

Another plus: I like my ice cream hard, like hand-packed premium ice cream that you buy. Most homemade ice cream that I have had is either soft-serve or rock hard and icy (if it’s ripened too long in the freezer.) This ice cream freezes to hardness while still being creamy.

As is the custom for this magazine (sister magazine to Cook’s Illustrated), testers try several methods of cooking before coming up with the result they’re looking for and they include all the methods they tried which failed. In this article, though, no mention is made of any other flavor of ice-cream being tried. I am going to experiment a little myself to see if I can make another flavor ice cream that is equally good using this method.

After stepping on the scale, I’m wondering why I wanted recipes for crusty, artisan-type bread that takes no time to bake and an equally easy and delicious recipe for premium ice cream. I may have to try to find some tasters for any further experiments.