Best Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Feeling hot hot hot? Well, then it’s time for homemade ice cream. I’ve given you some of the very best homemade ice cream recipes I know of already – Vanilla, Oreo Mint, Peanut Butter Cup, and Peach. You can get a printable version of all four here. We worked on them until each was the tastiest we’d ever had. The only complaint we got was that there was no chocolate recipe. As you can see below, that situation has been rectified.

This recipe was easy to finalize since we had already tested different chocolate combos for the best brownies in the world. All we had to do was modify the winner to pack that flavor into ice cream. Just like the brownies, the challenge of chocolate ice cream is making it really chocolaty. It is easy to turn the white cream brown but getting a strong flavor to match that dark color requires several kinds of concentrated chocolate and a little espresso. Both Melanie and I agree that it is the best chocolate ice cream we’ve ever eaten.

I think this ice cream could be a real winner with chocolate Oreos broken up in it. If it didn’t melt so fast, it might be nice to add some cinnamon chocolate pudding right at the end of the mixing. Of course duplicating Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk is never a bad idea. You’d just need to mix in white and dark chocolate fudge pieces, pecans, walnuts, and chocolate-covered almonds.

Maximum Chocolate Ice Cream (Printable PDF version)
Makes about 5 cups

1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso
1-1/2 teaspoons boiling water
2 oz Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Freeze freezer bowl according to manufacturer’s instructions (probably overnight).
2. Bring water to a boil in a medium bowl. Stir in espresso powder dissolving completely.
3. Stir in chocolate chips dissolving completely.
4. Heat milk until hot but not boiling then add to chocolate mixture.
5. Stir in cocoa powder dissolving completely.
6. Cool mixture in fridge until very cold.
7. Add sugar and mix on low speed for about two minutes until all sugar is dissolved.
8. Add cream and mix about one minute until evenly incorporated.
9. Pour immediately into ice cream maker and operate according to manufacturer’s instructions until ice cream is thick and frozen (probably 30 minutes).
10. Eat immediately for soft serve. Transfer to container and place in freezer for about two hours for firmer ice cream.

After you give it a try, let us know how you like it. If you send me a picture of you enjoying your batch of ice cream (in a G-rated way), I’ll be sure to append it to this post. Let me know if you want me to include your name or not.