A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Ice Cream
Today was supposed to be all about Mint Chocolate Chip not Natural Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream. As you can see that plan went slightly awry. It IS a woman’s prerogative to change her mind, right? If only it was that simple. The real reason for the switch to Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream is actually a bit more involved. Let me enlighten you.
It all started last year when I decided to pull the mint from the garden. Overgrown and taking over everything, it was time to go. I tugged, pulled and uprooted every last bit of the pesky plant; mission accomplished. Ready for planting this year, I sowed my corn and called it good. Not long after, I was out making rounds in the garden and noticed new shoots of mint coming up in between the rows of corn. While not exactly thrilled I decided to let it be and went about my business promptly forgetting all about it until this past week. I suddenly had a craving for mint chocolate chip ice cream. Remembering I had mint scattered throughout the corn I got all excited and made a plan to make my favorite ice cream and share it with you.
Flying by the seat of my pants as usual, I waited for the last possible minute to put the ice cream together and ran to the garden to snip some mint to add to the newly simmering cream and milk on the stove. Much to my chagrin I realized there was not a speck of mint to be found. What I had been sure was mint was actually oregano whose seed must have been scattered by the wind when it was left to flower. Sheepish grin. No Saturday post; no mint ice cream.
So here we are on Sunday and I have a killer Natural Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream recipe for you, a worthy substitute. I say natural because I have been doing a bit of research on whole foods, raw sugar, and what that means. Be sure to come by on Monday and read all about it in Raw Sugar: Whole Food or Hoax. It’s been very enlightening and I’m looking forward to sharing what I’ve discovered with you.
Natural Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream
Natural Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream has a wonderful rich coffee flavor, chocolate fudge swirled throughout and toasted crunchy almonds to make the deliciousness complete. It’s made with natural whole food ingredients including a pure and unrefined cane sugar that can be found in whole food stores, online and in some health food sections in your local supermarket. Refined granulated sugar can be substituted but unfortunately the minerals and nutrients found in pure unrefined sugar cane will be completely lost. More on this on Monday’s post….Raw Sugar: Whole Food or Hoax.
- Ice Cream Base:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- Pinch of salt
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 cup pure and unrefined cane sugar (mascabado, sucranat, or rapadura) refined pure cane sugar can be substituted.
- 2 tbsp espresso powder
- Hot Fudge:
- 3 oz Organic Sunspire semi sweet chocolate chips (regular can be substituted)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 6 TB pure and unrefined cane sugar (mascobado, sucranat, or rapadura) refined pure cane sugar can be substituted
- 2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 TB regular salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- small pinch kosher salt
- ¼ cup toasted almonds
- Ice Cream Base:
- Combine the cream, milk, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer and add the espresso powder. Remove from heat and let steep while preparing the yolks and sugar.
- Place egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl, whisk together. Set aside.
- Bring the cream and milk mixture back to a simmer. Add 1 cup of hot mixture slowly to the eggs and sugar whisking all the while.Continue to slowly add milk mixture until all is incorporated.
- Return mixture back to the sauce pan.
- Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is coats the back of a spoon, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool slightly and place in the refrigerator to chill for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.
- Hot Fudge Sauce:
- Prepare hot fudge sauce about an hour before beginning to churn Ice Cream to allow plenty of time for cooling.
- Combine ingredients in small, heavy saucepan set over medium heat.
- Bring to a boil, whisking constantly.
- Once a boil has been reached, immediately reduce heat to simmer.
- Simmer stirring constantly for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- Churn Ice cream according to manufacturers instructions.
- Once Ice cream has been churned, Place ice cream in freezer container, swirling in Hot Fudge Sauce and toasted almonds. Place in freezer to harden and cure (about 2 hours).
- Scoop and serve.
Hot Fudge Sauce adapted from Chew Out Loud: Hot Chocolate Fudge Sauce
Natural Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream Shared with:
*My Pinterventures: Merry Monday Link Party *Creative K Kids: Bloggers Brags * Plucky’s Second Thought *Yesterfood: Treasure Box Tuesday * April J Harris: Hearth and Soul Blog Hop * Lou Lou Girls: Lou Lou Girls *Back to the Basics: Tuesdays with a Twist *The Ultimate Linky: Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop *Creative K Kids: Tasty Tuesdays *Simply Sweets: Party in Your PJ’s *Savvy Southerner: Wow Us Wednesday’s *My Paper Craze: Creative Spark *Organic For Green Livings: Real Food Fridays
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
