Imagine mixing hot chocolate with chai tea and then churning it into ice cream. This recipe gives you just that! It’s a sophisticated mixture of warm, wintry, exotic spices tempered by creamy milk chocolate. It was inspired by a “milk chocolate masala” candy bar that Kris bought during her travels. As she tasted it with her husband, Nate, she immediately realized how good it would be as an ice cream.
AT A GLANCE
TECHNIQUE: Ice cream
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Ice cream machine
CHILLING TIME: 30 minutes to infuse the cream, 2½ hours or overnight to chill the base
SHELF LIFE: 1 week
INGREDIENTS:
- 15 whole black peppercorns
- 10 whole cloves
- 7 green cardamom pods
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 whole star anise
- 1¼ cups heavy cream
- 1 cup 1% or 2% milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 6 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped (about 1¼ cups)
TOAST THE SPICES
- Combine the peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise in a medium nonreactive saucepan and put the pan over medium-high heat. Toast, stirring frequently, until the spices are aromatic, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the cream, milk, sugar, and salt and increase the heat to medium high. When the mixture just begins to bubble around the edges, remove from the heat and cover the pan. Let steep for about 30 minutes, or until the cream has taken on a distinct chai like flavor.
(Stir it occasionally and taste it to monitor the progress.)
MAKE THE BASE
- In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks just to break them up and set aside. Put the chopped chocolate in another medium heatproof bowl and set that aside as well.
- Put the pan of infused cream over medium-high heat. When the mixture approaches a bare simmer, reduce the heat to medium.
- Carefully scoop out about ½ cup of the hot cream mixture and, whisking the eggs constantly, add the cream to the bowl with the egg yolks. Repeat, adding another ½ cup of the hot cream to the bowl with the yolks. Using a heatproof rubber spatula, stir the cream in the saucepan as you slowly pour the egg-and-cream mixture from the bowl into the pan.
- Cook the mixture carefully over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it is thickened, coats the back of a spatula, and holds a clear path when you run your finger across the spatula, 1 to 2 minutes longer.
- Pour the hot cream mixture into the bowl of chopped chocolate, wash your whisk, and whisk until smooth.
- Strain the base through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container. Set the container into an ice-water bath, wash your spatula, and use it to stir the base occasionally until it is cool. Remove the container from the ice-water bath, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate the base for at least 2 hours or overnight.
FREEZE THE ICE CREAM
- Freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. While the ice cream is churning, put the container you’ll use to store the ice cream into the freezer. Enjoy right away or, for a firmer ice cream, transfer to the chilled container and freeze for atleast 4 hours.
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
- Add finely chopped milk chocolate or toasted chopped cashews or macadamia nuts (see Buying and Using Nuts) in the last minute or so of churning.
SERVE IT WITH …
- Pistachio Ice Cream or Cheesecake Ice Cream
