Chocolate Pecan Ice Cream

Creamy, chocolatey, nutty homemade ice cream…it’s so good!  The ice cream is velvety smooth, with tiny, crunchy pieces of pecans in every bite.  Don’t like pecans?  Use walnuts or almonds instead, or leave the nuts out entirely. Instead of semi-sweet chocolate, I decided to try Baker’s German Chocolate Bar…wow!  The taste of the chocolate is incredible, and I may have sampled a bit too much of it while making this ice cream.  Next time, I’ll buy two bars, just to be sure I have enough left over for the ice cream…

Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 oz. Baker’s German Chocolate Bar, roughly chopped
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans

Instructions:

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, and vanilla extract, and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Once simmering, add the sugar.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat, and add in the chopped chocolate bar.  Whisk until the chocolate is melted.  Return to the stove.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks.  Whisk in 1 cup of the chocolate cream mixture a little bit at a time until combined.

Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  Cook until the cream custard reaches 175 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until it coats the back of a spoon.

Pour the custard into a large bowl, and freeze for at least 3 hours.

Once you are ready to make the ice cream, remove from the freezer, and pour the custard into your ice cream maker, and freeze.

Once the ice cream is done, add in the chopped pecans, and continue freezing for 30 seconds.

Pour the ice cream into a freezer-safe bowl, and freeze for at least 3 hours before enjoying!

Makes 1 quart of ice cream.