Chocolate ice cream with macadamia brittle

I’ve already told you how much I love blogging and the several reasons for that – being you, the people who read me, an amazing one.

Another favorite reason is that I’ll write what I want, about what I want... About people I find beautiful and talented, or ugly and shallow – it is MY blog, after all. You have the right to disagree with me and we can have a nice “conversation” this way - because you are a very important part of my blog.

Of course there are those people who will only comment to show how inconvenient they are - I guess they have too much time in their hands. But I don’t care – for each one of those, there are 50 like you.

Because you make my days a lot sweeter I want to share this ice cream with you – with an extra help from crunchy caramel and buttery nuts.

Chocolate ice cream with macadamia brittle
from here and here

Ice cream:
2 cups (480ml) heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
140g (5 oz) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped – I used one with 70% cocoa solids
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
¾ cup (150g) sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup (240ml) of cream with cocoa powder in medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to boil then reduce heat and gently simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Stir in remaining cup of cream. Pour mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as much as possible. Set mesh strainer atop the bowl. Warm milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan. Stir mixture constantly over medium heat making sure the scrape the bottom and corners, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (I used a wooden spoon). Pour custard through strainer and stir it into the chocolate until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Continue to stir over ice bath until cool – I just let the mixture reach room temperature then refrigerated it, covered.
Refrigerate the mixture to cool thoroughly and then freeze it in your ice cream machine per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Yields 1 quart

Macadamia brittle:
¾ cup (180ml) water
1 ¼ cups sugar
¾ cup unsalted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Butter a large baking sheet; set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, mix water and sugar with a wooden spoon. Place over medium heat and cook without stirring – you can swirl the pan around – for 12 minutes or until golden. Quickly mix in the chopped macadamias and pour the mixture over the prepared baking sheet. Set aside to cool completely then break into pieces or cut with a sharp knife.
Serve with ice cream.