Chocolate Gelato

 



I wanted to try an eggless ice ceam recipe see how it compares with the  custard base one in terms of creaminess & smoothness. This eggless recipe using constarch made very creamy ice cream indeed but it had a slight 'chalky' mouthfeel. I don't know why, probably due to the use of  cocoa powder or it could be due to undercooking the cornstarch. This ice cream was also a little icy and rock hard after freezing and had to be left out a while before serving, but hey, I made this without an ice cream maker!  Misgivings aside, this ice cream turned out extremely chocolaty, good for die hard chocoholics! My daughter remarked, "It's like eating frozen chocolate icing!" I think so too and one spoonful was enough to satisfy my chocolate cravings for the entire day.

CHOCOLATE GELATO RECIPE
(Recipe adapted from 'Cafe Fernando' here)

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar (Reduced to 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon, I don't like my ice cream too sweet)
2 tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Bring 2 cups of heavy cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then remove from heat.
2. In another bowl, combine milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt and cocoa powder, then  add to hot cream. Return to stove and cook on low to medium heat until sugar and cocoa dissolve (5-10 minutes).
3. Set aside to let cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Note: I don't own an ice cream maker, hence I had to process the ice cream by hand. After Step 3 above, I poured the ice cream mixture into a container and kept it in the freezer until half frozen. Then, took the ice cream out and gave it a vigorous mix to beak up the ice crystals. Put the container back into the freezer again and repeated the process of 'freezing -mixing-freezing' about 3 times.