Nutella Ice Cream

Please see Notes below.

1. Heat about 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy or whipping cream (200 ml) in a heavy saucepan until almost boiling, stirring all the while as to prevent it from catching. Pour into a 1 quart or 1 liter measuring jug or heat-proof bowl.

2. Add roughly 7 oz Nutella (about 200 grams) into the hot cream, and stir well to dissolve. If all Nutella is not dissolved, you can pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat it gently until you get a velvety smooth emulsion.

3. Set a mesh strainer on top of the measuring jug or bowl that contains the creamy Nutella mixture. Quickly wash out the saucepan with hot water and pat it dry with a kitchen towel, we’re going to prepare the custard in it next.

4. Start the custard by separating the egg yolks from the whites. Most easily done when the eggs are fridge cold by cracking them open into the palm of your hand and letting the whites slip through your fingers into the kitchen sink, or whatever container on hand if you wish to preserve them, and transferring the white-free yolks into a small bowl. Whisk briskly to break their structure and incorporate some air into them. You can freeze the egg whites and make meringue later, for example.

5. Heat 1 cup milk (about 250 ml) in the same saucepan, stirring constantly with a whisk or a spatula so it won’t catch. When the milk is steaming hot, temper the egg yolks. This can be quite an operation if you’ve never done it before. Slowly drizzle some of the hot milk into the egg yolks while whisking the mixture like a madman so they won’t cook. Keep doing this, slowly drizzling the milk into the yolks and stirring at breakneck speed, until all milk is used, and pour back into the saucepan.

6. Slowly heat the egg yolk and milk mixture over a gentle heat (or a not-so-gentle heat if you’re familiar with the process), constantly stirring with a whisk or a spatula and scraping the bottom of the pan. After a few minutes the custard will thicken noticeably. When this happens, immediately remove from heat and keep stirring. Do not let it boil or you will end up with scrambled eggs! This custard contains no sugar, so it will thicken quite fast.

7. To remove any bits of cooked egg yolk, pour the hot custard through the mesh strainer into the bowl or jug containing the Nutella mixture. Discard egg solids. Stir well to combine the Nutella cream and the custard until you get a homogeneous mixture, and place some cling wrap directly on top of the surface of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming, and cool in an ice bath until cool enough to transfer to the fridge. Cool thoroughly (at least 4 hours, though I have been a bit impatient myself…), and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

You can serve it straight from the ice cream maker if you prefer, but I found it was too soft and melts quickly so I transferred the ice cream into the freezer and let it ripen for several hours. If it gets too hard to scoop out, let it sit a few minutes in room temperature first.

NOTES –
You may add more Nutella than the recipe calls for after you’ve tasted the Nutella and cream mixture. Or, indeed, you may want to use less if you don’t have a particularly sweet tooth, in which case proceed with caution when adding the Nutella.

Makes about 4/5 quarts or 800 ml ice cream, depending on how much air your ice cream maker incorporates in the mixing process. I have no idea how many servings that is, I could probably eat it all in one sitting but then again not everyone has a death wish. All I know is that the resulting ice cream is very, very rich. Sinfully, decadently rich. Enjoy!

To ensure best results, use the metric quantities specified in the brackets within the preparation instructions. That’s how I made it, the conversions you see in the ingredients list are sponsored by Google. I trust them, but hey, I warned you…