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Chocolate Brownie Bits Ice Cream

So you know how I am trying to make healthy dinner for J and I…well that doesn’t include dessert. I make some desserts healthy{er} by making substitutions, but ice cream is one thing that it is so not worth it on. Bring on the heavy cream, sugar, and yumminess. I tried to make ice cream one time with coconut milk, and I spit it out. Literally, and I never spit food out, and this crap I spit out three times. You know, I kept needing to try it to just make sure it really was as gross as the last bite:)
This recipe produced the most heavenly chocolate ice cream with brownie bits. And you want to know my dirty little secret about it? I used Kroger brand brownies. Oh yes I did. It’s of course up to the person baking whether to make brownies or buy them. People who have even a minimum baking knowledge can easily follow recipes like those found on https://chopnotch.com/ or similar sites to make a delicious batch of brownies, if they find themselves up for it! It’ll obviously take some extra time and effort, but it may be well worth it. Preferred store-bought brownies will also work well. I opted out of the recipes that made me make homemade brownies as well, because, well J and I are totally in love with Krogers brownies. Crazy, especially for how cheap they are. I found my recipe from Dinner and Dessert, and added a few twists of my own.

Chocolate Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth.
Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.
Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk unto the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.
Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. My strainer slightly sucks so I attempted to use it in the beginning, but in the end I ended up just pouring that delicious custard in and lightly whisking it till smooth. Came out beautiful! Stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator {I did mine for about three hours} then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin out).
To make this ice cream with brownie bits, bake your brownies and cut up about 1/2 your pan. I cut/crumbled mine in to little bits and froze them for about an hour. When the ice cream maker has two minutes left toss the brownie bits in. So good and so easy.
Makes about 1 quart

This ice cream is the most decadent chocolate ice cream ever. The addition of the brownies makes it even better. And to make it just over the top, I even add brownies to the top of my ice cream. There is a rule in my household- Never tell me I have eaten too many brownies.
Now go, make this ice cream and give me big virtual hugs when you take that first ridiculous good bite.

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