My Morning Chocolate

Mexican chocolate ice cream (made with a vanilla ice cream base and chocolate sauce)

Today is My Morning Chocolate’s one-year blogiversary!

I know what I’m about to say is cliché, but I’m going for it anyway: I can’t believe a year has gone by so fast! Thank you so much to everyone who has read, commented or supported the blog, including many of the food bloggers on my Sunshine Awards list.

Thanks also to my talented husband, Kenny, who is the reason my photos have improved over the past year. I don’t know what I’d do without his artistic skills.

I’m celebrating today with Mexican chocolate ice cream, made from a recipe by Aja Cage of Salt restaurant that appeared in this month’s Baltimore magazine. (I love that Baltimore has a food-focused story this month!)

With this recipe, I have finally made what I consider to be a perfect ice cream for the first time in my ice cream-making existence, thanks to two ingredients:

Heavy cream. I’ve made ice cream before – see avocado ice cream and chestnut ice cream – but I’ve always used soy milk or low-fat milk or half-and-half. And after several hours in the freezer, my ice cream is more icy than creamy every time. But for this Mexican chocolate ice cream, I used heavy cream, and the texture is perfect. I’m not saying you shouldn’t make healthier ice creams – and if you have a recipe that works, I’d love to have it – but if you want a creamy, rich texture, use heavy cream.  

Vanilla Beans. Oh my, are vanilla beans expensive. At whole foods, I bought two of them for $11. And now I will always have to budget for vanilla beans because they are so worth it. The whole bean can be used to infuse flavor into liquids or sugar…

or you can slice the bean in half lengthwise and scrape out of the seeds.

Mexican chocolate ice cream starts with a vanilla ice cream base, and it is here that you’ll get the full vanilla effect. Made with only heavy cream, milk, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and a vanilla bean, the vanilla flavor was incredible – rich and round and delicious. I almost wish I had stopped there and made vanilla ice cream, and you know how much I love chocolate. That’s because of the powerful flavor of the vanilla bean.  (If you scrape the seeds out, David Lebovitz also has some great ideas for using the leftover bean and its lovely vanilla flavor.)

I now know I can use heavy cream and vanilla beans for perfect ice cream every time.

Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
Making this ice cream was not easy or fast. But it was all worth it when my Mexican chocolate mixture was spinning in the ice cream maker, growing thicker and creamier by the minute. Liquid spinning into ice cream is an amazing sight, and it makes the whole process worth it.

The recipe I used starts with a vanilla ice cream base.  Then you’ll make a chocolate sauce to mix into the vanilla mixture.

Take a look at the Mexican chocolate ice cream recipe (on the left side), and come back here for pictures of the process:

Start by heating the heavy cream, milk, part of the sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean on the stove until tiny bubbles form on the mixture’s surface:

The mixture is ready when tiny bubbles form.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg whites and remaining sugar.  Then slowly add the heavy cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking constantly.

Slowly add the cream mixture to the egg mixture.

Return the mixture to heat until it’s thick enough to coat a spoon and a line can be drawn in the mixture.  You should stir the mixture constantly during this step, but I slacked a bit because this process took a long time.  (I didn’t accurately keep track, but it felt like an hour.)  Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.  Chill.

Reheat the mixture until it coats the back of a spoon.

The next step is making Mexican chocolate sauce, which is a regular chocolate sauce with cinnamon and cayenne pepper.  You will do this over the stove, then add 1/2 cup or more (to taste) of the mixture to the vanilla base and chill.  Recipe coming soon!

When chilled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the maker’s instructions.

Pour mixture into ice cream maker.

I churned my mixture for 30 minutes until I had a creamy ice cream like this:

The nearly finished ice cream

At this point, the ice cream is like soft serve.  Enjoy now or freeze for a firmer, creamier texture.