Chocolate and Chambord Gelato

I've got a section of shelf in my pantry now dedicated to remnants of products that I want to use up so I can declutter my cupboards and get rid of the half packets and nearly empty bottles.

From this shelf this morning I grabbed a half block of chocolate and a nearly empty bottle of Chambord and turned it into a gelato, reducing the amount of milk from a chocolate gelato recipe and making up the volume with the Chambord.

Chocolate and Chambord Gelato

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 100 grams dark chocolate
• 1 ½ cups of cream
• ½ cup of Chambord (Black Raspberry Liqueur)

Method

1. Heat the milk, cocoa, sugar and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring constantly to blend in the cocoa and dissolve the sugar. You want the milk hot but not to boil.
2. Take the milk off the heat. While stirring the milk mix, add in the eggs and mix in quickly. The milk heat will cook the yolk and you want it all mixed in as quickly as possible.
3. Add the chocolate to the mix and mix in as it melts.
4. Leave the chocolate custard mix to cool to room temperature. Avoid the temptation to put the mix in the fridge to cool as if the chocolate cools too quickly you will get grainy icecream.
5. When the chocolate mix is cooled, whip the cream in a separate bowl till it forms soft peaks.
6. Add the Chambord to the cream and fold through.
7. Fold the cream mix through the cooled chocolate mix.
8. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze, or if you have an ice cream maker, follow it’s instructions.

This ice-cream freezes soft and is very rich and chocolately with the flavour from the Chambord coming through nicely. If you want a stronger liqueur flavour in the ice-cream you could add an extra 1/4 cup of Chambord to the mix. Any more than that however and you will risk the ice-cream not freezing.