Double Chocolate Espresso Custard Ice Cream

Ingredients

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

1½ cups sugar

⅔ cup espresso coffee beans
1 TBSP coffee emulsion

6 egg yolks

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Combine the cream, milk, and sugar together in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the mixture becomes hot and the sugar dissolves. Heat to about 175⁰.

Grind the beans very roughly; goal is just to crack the beans: a pulse or three. When the milk mixture is hot, add the cracked beans, and steep in the hot milk for 30 minutes or so. 

Strain the mixture into another bowl, clean the strainer, and strain the mixture a second time, back into the saucepan.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a spacious, heat-tolerant bowl. Temper the yolks by slowly adding one cup of the hot cream mixture while whisking vigorously. Re-heat the mixture to 175⁰. Stir constantly until the custard thickens slightly. Stir carefully and do not let the custard boil, or the yolks will curdle.

Add the melted chocolate, finely ground powder and cocoa to the custard and stir until smooth. Add 1 TBSP coffee emulsion. Stir well. 

[The first trial involved adding some extra dark chocolate, maybe an additional ounce (with the appropriate sugar and a bit of cream), and an additional ½ TBSP of coffee emulsion, making it "Double Chocolate Espresso Overload Custard Ice Cream ." The Mrs. thought it was "perfect." Tough to argue with "perfect." ]

Allow the custard to cool to room temperature (maybe an hour). Stir in the vanilla, then refrigerate for 4–6 hours, or overnight. We put it in the freezer for an hour one time, put it warm into the ice cream canister the second time, but transferred it to a second canister before it was done.

Pour the cold custard into the canister of your ice cream maker and fire it up.

Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover, and freeze for at least 4 hours to firm up. For best flavor, always remove ice cream from the freezer 20 minutes before serving, or place it in the microwave for 15–20 seconds.

Comment: If you use caffeinated coffee, this will have a pretty substantial caffeine kick. Probably need to have this for breakfast. 

Summary: this is one of the finest ice cream recipes I've ever encountered. It's not easy, but it comes out pretty darned good. It tasted like it was still a "75%" dark chocolate bar, with espresso.