Stracciatella Ice Cream

Chill the ice cream bowl for at least 24 hours or until solid. You should not hear any water sloshing around when you shake the bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and granulated sugar until smooth and pale yellow in color.

Add the milk and salt to a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the milk to a simmer and then remove from the heat. Be sure not to boil. Add about ½ cup of the hot milk to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk constantly until combined.

Then, add the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk. Heat the saucepan on low. Stirring constantly, heat until the base has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take a few minutes.

Strain the mixture into a bowl to remove any pieces of egg that may have cooked. Then, add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap making sure to have the plastic wrap touching the surface of the ice cream base. This will help keep it from forming a skin while chilling. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Churn the ice cream mixture in the bowl of your ice cream machine according to your manufacturer’s instructions (mine took about 25 minutes), until it is thick and the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

While the ice cream is churning, add the chopped chocolate to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted. Add to a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with the tip cut off.

In the last 2 minutes of the churning process, stream the bittersweet chocolate into the ice cream while it is churning. The chocolate will freeze and break up as it churns.

Spoon the ice cream into a shallow container or a loaf pan. Press plastic wrap or wax paper to the surface of the ice cream. Freeze for at least 4 hours, or until solid. Let sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before serving.

You don’t have to use a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with the tip cut off of it to steam in the chocolate, but I find I have better control that way. You could simply let the chocolate drizzle off a spoon instead.