Chocolate Ice Cream with nuts (just 4 ingredients)

If you do not have an ice cream maker, this post should convince you to buy one. It makes the job of making a creamy and smooth ice cream that much easier. A few times of eating home made ice cream, it is almost impossible to enjoy store bought ones. Home made ice creams are lighter, creamier and more importantly the sugar level and everything else that goes into it can be controlled.

The basic ingredients that go into making this ice cream are milk, cream, sugar and cocoa powder. I did not have chocolate on hand and subbed cocoa powder and it turned out just fine with this amazing smell of cocoa. I added some walnuts to add some texture.

Takes less than 1/2 hour and you have smooth creamy ice cream ready.


Ice cream making in pictures,

Heat the milk and whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
Once the cocoa is mixed in. Add the rest of the milk and let come to room temperature.
Whisk in the heavy cream. If needed refrigerate for about 30 minutes and pour into the ice cream maker.
Chop the nuts and add it to the churning ice cream.
Churn for 20 minutes till done and then freeze in a freezer safe container.

Enjoy with more more nuts sprinkled on top.

Chocolate Ice Cream with Walnuts
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Churning Time: 30 minutes
Freeze Time: 4 hours
Ingredients

1. 2 cups whole milk (I used 2%milk)
2. 2 cups heavy cream
3. 3/4 cups of sugar
4. 1/4 cup cocoa powder
5. 1/4 - 1/2 cup of roasted walnuts chopped

Method

1. Heat about 1/2 cup of milk to boiling. Add in the cocoa and sugar and let it dissolve completely. Add the remaining milk. Bring the mixture to room temperature. Now add in the cream. Mix and refrigerate for about 20 minutes or so (optional see Note:).
2. Setup the ice cream maker and add in the chocolate mixture and churn as per instructions for 20 minutes.
3. Towards the end add the chopped nuts and churn for just a minute more.
4. Freshly churned ice cream can be eaten right away. It will be really soft.
5. Freeze the rest for a firmer ice cream. Freeze for 4 hours at the minimum.
6. Note: Refrigerating lets the ice cream set faster. My best results have been when the mixture has been refrigerated before churning.

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Wild Blackberries in the farm

I ran out of jelly. Now that we are used to eating home made jelly I try to find fruits that can be made into jelly. Earlier in the summer DD2 harvested mulberries from the trees around here. Mulberries can be eaten just like that, with purple juice and their natural sweetness they are a delight but cannot be kept around for a long time. So I made jelly out of them.

When that ran out our currant bushes gave just enough fruit to make currant jelly. When that was almost coming to an end the wild blackberry bushes were starting to fruit. I am not that fond of cultivated blackberries. They are not as sweet as the other berries. But these wild blackberries are sweeter and smaller than their cultivated counterparts.

Picking blackberries is an adventure unto itself. It might be a good idea to be in hazmat suits :). Wearing thic gloves is a good idea. Anyway I managed to pluck about a couple of pounds of blackberries getting pricked and pulled by the thorns that are abundant on the plant. But they are sweet and fresh and the jelly turned out pretty good as well.

Here is the blackberry bush in pictures,

See the thorns?

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