Monday, February 28, 2011

Chocolate Toffee Dark Chocolate Chip Ice Cream


With all the snow we've been having here north of Boston this winter, our thoughts often wander to warmer times. Thinking of summer my husband and I decided we needed an ice cream maker! We settled on a Cuisinart 2 Qt so that we could make our own half gallon concoctions any time we want! I decided to start with a super easy, no egg, chocolate base and added some toffee bits and dark chocolate chips since I had only a bit more than 1/4 cup of each which wouldn't be of any use for anything other than snacking if I didn't put them into something. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Toffee Dark Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 3 1/4 cups heavy cream
  • 1 Tbs pure vanilla extract
  • about 3/4 cup total dark chocolate chips and toffee bits
Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and sugars. Add the whole milk and blend together for about 3 minutes using a hand mixer on a low speed until the cocoa and sugars are dissolved. Stir in the vanilla and heavy cream by hand.

Turn your ice cream maker on and pour the mixture into the prepared freezer bowl and let mix until thickened according to your machine's instructions. Add the chocolate chips and toffee bits about 5 minutes before the cycle is complete. Ours finished soft serve after 25 minutes and we transferred it to a sealed container in the freezer to get a firmer set for about 2 hours.

Better than anything we can buy in a store AND we had a whole half gallon, not the 1 3/4 gallons the stores sell now at the half gallon price!

Enjoy!
Christina

16 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. This looks like heaven. I LOVE chocolate (especially dark) and Toffee, then you put it all in ice cream........(drool) yumm. Thank you for sharing. I will defiantly be making this soon.

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  2. Congrats on your ice-cream maker. Your toffee chocolate looks scrummy. Bet there's no stopping you now!

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  3. I love the combo of toffee and dark chocolate! I've only ever made egg-based ice creams, I'll have to give this a try.

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  4. Don't you just love being able to make ice cream at home?! This recipe sounds amazing!

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  5. Oh, yum, you're onto ice cream, too...I'm keeping my fingers crossed for ice cream weather to soon follow. Love your add-ins..toffee makes everything better :)

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  6. whoooo this sounds so amazing! I love love love toffee, and that ice cream sounds so rich! Great job!

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  7. wow you sure picked a great flavour to start with! Yum!

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  8. YUMMM! Toffee, chocolate chip... wow...delicious flavors!
    I really enjoy making my own ice creams... you have the freedom to put whatever the heck you want in there.

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  9. sounds like a really rich in taste ice cream :)

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  10. I've heard really good things about the cuisinart ice cream machines. This ice cream sounds and looks really good. I agree with the no egg recipe as your first one to try. Those custard based one can get tricky (I still haven't found a good recipe for that.)

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  11. Yum... So jealous... I want an ice cream maker SO bad... This looks decadent!

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  12. Hi! I really love your blog and your recipes! I want to pass on the Stylish Blogger Award to you. See the link for more info and instructions.
    http://www.pinaycookingcorner.com/2011/03/my-1st-award.html

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  13. Christina, This looks so rich. Ice cream is my addiction of choice :) Thank you for stopping by our blog. Hope that you will give the canning a try, I find it very rewarding. We look forward to more of your recipes Have a wonderful week :)

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Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment! I love hearing from you! I'm so glad you stopped by!
Christina