Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

I have a confession, before now, I have never made homemade ice cream. I am completely hooked now. It all started with Sabrina and Alex, who got it from Dianne. You see, Dianne hosted an ice cream week, and I just couldn't take it any longer. A few years ago, I asked for an ice cream machine for Mother's Day, and I got it. Only, I have never used it! So, I dug it out, blew off all of the dust, and proceeded to read the directions. Melt some chocolate with some heavy cream, let cool...add a little more heavy cream, some sugar, half and half, and sweetened condensed milk. Easy enough? Yes, it was! And it is fantastic. The picture above is after freezing for about 4 hours, so it was a little on the soft serve side. I let the rest freeze overnight, and the next day it was firm enough to scoop and very creamy. What better way to so goodbye to the Summer than with homemade ice cream?

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
recipe from Dianne's Dishes

5 oz baking chocolate

1 pint of heavy cream

1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 of 1 pint of half and half

1/4 cup sugar

In a sauce pan over medium heat, or in the microwave on low, melt chocolate with 1/2 of the heavy cream until completely smooth. Be careful and don't let it go too far or the chocolate will become grainy. Let cool completely.

Stir in sweetened condensed milk, half and half, the rest of the cream and sugar until smooth. Place mixture into your ice cream freezer and freeze according to your machine's directions. Once the ice cream has hit the soft serve stage you can serve immediately or you can place in an airtight container to harden further and make it more scoopable.

Notes: It is extremely important to let your mixture cool completely BEFORE you begin the freezing process or it most likely will not set up.