Then I thought about adding dark chocolate chips (freezer chocolate that easily melts in your mouth) to the chocolate ice cream.
This recipe is the result of that process, and it is yummy! No ... It is far better than yummy!
Note that you do need to have or make the coconut flavored marshmallow crème. If you don't have it then use the Food Nirvana recipe for marshmallow crème and use coconut flavoring instead of vanilla and make only 1/3 of a batch. You can buy the coconut flavoring from OliveNation.com online.
You also make the freezer chocolate, and that recipe is included below.
The specific ice cream base ingredients and procedure shown below are for the Ben & Jerry's® type of ice cream ... easy to make and tasty. Know that you can also decide to use the Food Nirvana custard based vanilla ice cream recipe modified to make chocolate ice cream. Your choice. Both types of ice cream are fine. It is a matter of personal preference.
The Ice Cream:
Ingredients: (makes a bit more than 2 quarts of ice cream after adding in the chocolate chips and the marshmallow crème)
1, 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
2/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
2 1/2 cups of heavy cream
2/3 cup of Hersheys® powdered unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup of Hersheys® chocolate syrup
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. of pure vanilla extract
2 jumbo eggs
1/2 tsp. of Xanthan gum powder (optional)
2 cups of coconut flavored marshmallow crème
1 cup of freezer chocolate chips as described in the recipe below
Directions:
Mix the eggs with the sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed, then add the salt and the vanilla extract and continue mixing.
Add the evaporated milk and the regular milk. Then add the cream and mix for two minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to very low and gradually add the unsweetened cocoa and then the chocolate syrup.
Gradually increase the mixer speed to medium and mix for three minutes to blend all ingredients. If necessary, stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape any chocolate material from the inside of the mixer bowl into the rest of the mixture. Then resume mixing for two minutes.
Introduce the (optional) Xanthan gum to the mixer bowl very gradually, as in sprinkling it in, while the mixer is running on medium speed. Then continue to mix on medium speed for four minutes.
Chill the chocolate ice cream base in the refrigerator, covered, keeping it cold while you prepare the freezer chocolate.
The Freezer Chocolate:
Ingredients: (Makes about one cup of Freezer chocolate chunks)
2 to 3 ounces of dark high cacao content chocolate (like a Callebaut® Baking Chocolate Bar)
1.5 ounces of coconut oil
1 ounce of light corn syrup
1 tsp. of sugar
1 gram of soy lecithin (buy it online from OliveNation.com)
2 tsp. of water
Directions:
Weighing out and using the tiny amount of thick, sticky soy lecithin is a challenge. Use a precision kitchen scale accurate to the tenth of a gram. Put the two tsp. of water into the weighing pan and put the weighing pan on the scale. Now turn on the power to the scale. It will read zero as the weight. Add the soy lecithin by dipping a paring knife about one inch into the jar of soy lecithin vertically and then lifting the knife out and letting most of the soy lecithin drip/run off the tip of the knife back into the jar. Then hold the knife vertically over the weighing pan and let just enough soy lecithin drip from the knife into the water, until you have a weight of 1 gram showing on the scale display. Remove the weighing pan and use the contents in the next step.
Put the corn syrup, sugar, and the water and soy lecithin mixture into a small bowl. Stir well to get the soy lecithin to mix with the corn syrup. Heat the mixture briefly in the microwave oven for 15 seconds and mix/stir until the sugar has dissolved. If necessary repeat the heating and stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Use a wooden cutting board and a large, sharp butcher knife to shave the 2 oz. high cacao chocolate bar into thin sections, then chop across the sections to make the chocolate pieces thin and small. Barely melt the chocolate pieces in a small bowl with the coconut oil in the microwave oven with a 30 second heating cycle on high heat. Stir the mixture to help melt the chocolate, then, if necessary, repeat the heating cycle but only for 15 seconds. Stir until the mixture is well combined.
Mix/stir/whisk the chocolate coconut oil mixture together with the corn syrup mixture until well combined. If necessary heat the mixture briefly in the microwave oven and stir until well combined.
Pour the completed freezer chocolate onto a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread it out thin, about 1/16" thick, then put it in the deep freeze to harden for about one hour.
After it has hardened cut it up into small pieces with a butcher knife, about 1/2" on a side and return them to the deep freeze. Then proceed to make the final ice cream, as described next.
Making The Final Ice Cream:
Now use the gelato maker and freeze the chocolate ice cream base.
When it is almost done add the freezer chocolate pieces gradually and let them mix into the ice cream for two minutes. If you don't have enough room in the gelato maker then dispense the ice cream into a 2 quart chilled bowl and mix the chocolate pieces into the ice cream with a large spoon.
Dispense a 3/4" thick layer of the completed chocolate chip ice cream into a chilled 2 to 3 quart plastic storage container. Then use two spoons to put about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of spread out globs of the marshmallow crème on top of the layer of ice cream. Don't worry about precise measurements for either the ice cream or the marshmallow crème.
Repeat the layering of the ice cream and the marshmallow crème, finishing with a layer of ice cream.
Hard freeze the ice cream in the deep freeze for four or more hours.
Enjoy!