Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream Recipes

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the salt, 1/4 cup sugar and 2 1/4 cups water to the butter and remove from the heat. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and a dough is formed. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, then add the eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed, followed by the vanilla.
• Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a star tip and set aside. Cut parchment paper into 5-inch squares and place them on a sheet tray. Pipe a cookie-sized round of the churro batter onto each parchment square, then freeze for 1 hour.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven to 350 degrees F. Fit a rack inside a sheet tray.
• Combine the cinnamon with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Carefully slide half the frozen churros off the parchment paper into the hot oil and cook until golden brown and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes, then transfer to the rack. Sprinkle each churro with the cinnamon-sugar mixture immediately after removing them from the fryer.
• Top each churro with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of dulce de leche, if using.

Steps:

• Halve vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into a 3-quart heavy saucepan. Add chocolate and half-and-half and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking. Remove from heat.
• Lightly beat eggs with salt in a bowl, then add hot chocolate mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Transfer custard to cleaned saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard registers 175°F on thermometer, 1 to 5 minutes. Immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl. Put bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and cool, stirring occasionally.
• Freeze custard in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until hardened, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Place four 1/2-cup scoops of ice cream on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm., In a shallow bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Roll ice cream in crumb mixture to coat. Freeze until serving. Drizzle each serving with 1 tablespoon honey.

Steps:

• Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds (do not discard), set aside.
• Roughly chop the chocolate and melt in a medium sauce pan together with milk and cream (over medium heat). After the chocolate has melted, whisk in the cocoa powder, avoiding clumps. Add the vanilla bean and seeds. Bring the mix to just under a boil (150° on a candy thermometer), stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let the mix steep, covered, for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Remove the vanilla bean. Reheat mix over moderate heat until hot (150 degrees), stirring frequently.
• Whisk the eggs, sugar and salt together in a small bowl.
• Temporarily remove the pan from the heat. Add 1/2 cup hot cream mixture to the eggs/sugar in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Whisk the egg/cream mix back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat, STIRRING CONSTANTLY until a candy thermometer reads 170 degrees (do not let it boil).
• In a medium to large bowl (that cream mixture will be chilled in) combine the cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Pour a small amount of the chocolate cream through a strainer into the bowl and whisk to combine, avoiding clumps. Pour the remaining chocolate cream mixture through the strainer and whisk to combine.
• Cool completely in the refrigerator (at least 4 hours). Freeze in an ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.
• Notes: DO NOT add more than 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper. The flavor intensifies as it freezes in the ice cream maker. If you don't have 1/8 tsp, use 1/4 tsp and remove half the cayenne.
• Notes: To chill more quickly, place the final mixture in an ice and cold-water bath for 30 minutes (a larger bowl for the ice water, a smaller bowl filled with the cream mixture that will sit in the "bath"). Stir frequently.