Almond Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

My blueberry lavender ice cream was good, but a bit too novelty for my taste. My favorite ice creams have lots and lots of chocolate chips or other fillings with a contrasting crunch. I thought about making mint chocolate chip with fresh mint from a recently purchased herb plant, but read that mint extract is what's actually needed to achieve the traditional mint chip flavor. Lacking in mint extract, I realized I did have almond extract hanging around. So, almond chocolate chip it would be, tinged with the essence of almond, and amplified with crushed nuts and chunks of bitter dark chocolate.


Yes. This was so effing good. And this time the hand churning worked like a charm, yielding parlor-quality fluffy, creamy ice cream. You need to make this now, before summer's heat wanes. I made my roommates and everyone who came over this week partake in a tasting, which they were all happy to do. I savored the final scoops last night and am preparing another similar batch already.

Almond Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from Cathy Erway's mint chip ice cream

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 3/4 cups whole or reduced fat milk
2/3 cups sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup almonds, preferably roasted and crushed or finely chopped
3.5 oz. (1 bar) 70-85% good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped

Warm cream, milk, and sugar in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved and just before steaming. Remove from heat and wait approximately 30 minutes to let cool. Whisk three egg yolks in a separate bowl. Slowly whisk half a cup of the milk mixture into the eggs, and then another half cup, to temper the eggs. Then, slowly whisk the egg mixture into the saucepan. Cook over low heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until custard thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, add almond extract, and let cool. Transfer to an airtight container in fridge overnight to chill completely.

Prepare according to ice cream machine directions, or hand churn by putting container in freezer and removing to whisk every 30-90 minutes over the course of a few hours until it reaches the desired consistency. Add almonds and chocolate chips. Scoop. Enjoy.