Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Heat one cup of cream in a small saucepan (1 qt). Whisk in cocoa powder. Bring to a simmer. Whisk until cocoa powder is well incorporated.

Remove pot from heat. Stir in chocolate until it is completely incorporated.

Put mixture into a metal bowl and add the remaining cup of cream. Set that bowl over a larger bowl half-filled with ice water to help cool it down.

Place a mesh sieve over the bowl with the chocolate mixture.

Put 1 cup of milk, the sugar, cinnamon, salt, cayenne, espresso powder (or instant coffee) into a saucepan and heat until steamy (not boiling), stirring to incorporate the spices and dissolve the sugar.

Place egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk and mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the heated milk, but not cooked by it.

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the milk-egg mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom while stirring, until the mixture thickens.

Coat the spoon with the mxture and run a finger through it; the coating should not run. This can take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes, depending on how hot the burner is.

As soon as the mixture coats the spoon, remove it from the heat and immediately pour it over the mesh sieve into the bowl of the chocolate cream mixture. (The sieve is there to catch any curdled bits.)

Stir into the cream mixture. If the custard base doesn’t coat the back of the spoon, it’s not ready.

Add a teaspoon of vanilla. Let the mixture cool a bit in the ice bath and then chill in the refrigerator until completely chilled for 2 hours or overnight.

Right before churning, add 2 tablespoons of brandy to the mix. This is an optional step, but it will help keep the ice cream from getting too icy if it is stored beyond a day. If eating the ice cream on the same day as making it, skip this step.

Churn the mixture in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Store ice cream in an airtight container in the freezer for several hours before eating. The ice cream will be quite soft coming out of the ice cream maker but will continue to harden in the freezer.

If stored for more than a day, let it sit for a few minutes to soften before attempting to scoop it.