Chocolate-Raspberry Ice Cream

It doesn't matter how bitterly cold, windy or snowy the winter gets, I still find myself craving ice cream.  And while our local ice cream shop remains open year-round (albeit with limited hours this time of year), I'd rather not have to bundle up and brave that cold weather to get my ice cream fix, especially when there's a perfectly good ice cream maker sitting right in my pantry!  It's been over a month since I last churned a batch of homemade ice cream, and I think we can all agree that's WAY too long. So when I sat down to plan this week's menu, my copy of The Perfect Scoop, my ice cream bible, was among the stack of cookbooks on the table.

I had only flipped through a few pages when I came upon this chocolate-raspberry ice cream.  That was it, no need to look any further.  I adore the chocolate and raspberry combo, a fact I discovered last year when I made what has become one of my favorite cupcake recipes.  It's as irresistible to me as chocolate and strawberries, maybe even more so.  The decadent, rich chocolate and the juicy, tangy berries - yum!!



The simplicity of this ice cream can't be beat. It's not made with a custard base - the entire recipe includes just four ingredients and the hands-on time is probably less than 10 minutes. You can even use frozen raspberries, which are a lot easier to come by this time of year than fresh ones (or at least fresh ones that would be worth buying). The resulting ice cream is really creamy and decadent, with an intense dark chocolate flavor and plenty of raspberry goodness. It was so rich I could only savor a few bites at a time, but that's probably a good thing :)

Chocolate-Raspberry Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 tablespoons (40 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
2 cups (240 g) raspberries, fresh or frozen

Add the heavy cream, cocoa powder and sugar to a medium saucepan and whisk to combine. Set the pan over medium heat and, whisking frequently, bring the mixture to a full, rolling boil. Turn off the heat under the pan, then add the raspberries. Cover the pan and set aside for 10 minutes.

Puree the mixture in a blender (immersion blender works too, that's what I did!) or food processor. If desired, you can strain the mixture to remove the raspberry seeds.

Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (overnight is good). The mixture will be thick - almost like pudding - once chilled. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to airtight container and store in your freezer.

Makes about 3 cups