Salted Spicy Chocolate Ice Cream

One of my favorite things to sip on when it’s cold and rainy out is Mexican Hot Chocolate. The sweet, spicy and salty flavors compliment each other perfectly. But what about when it’s warm and sunny out? Turn it into an ice cream of course! Of course it doesn’t completely transfer over so I had to tweak the recipe and I threw in a bit more spice as well. Because salt added directly to the ice cream will melt it and not allow it to freeze correctly I wait to add it when serving it.

Sift together:

  • 1 Cup Cocoa powder
  • 2/3 Cup Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tbs Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Cayenne powder
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix in:

  • 1-1/2 cup cream

This should create a thick creamy mixture which helps get the cocoa powder mixed into the liquid. If you add too much liquid the cocoa powder acts hydrophobic and can be really difficult to get incorporated.

Once the dry ingredients are incorporated in with the cream stir in:

  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 4 cups whole milk

Once everything is incorporated add it to your ice cream maker and turn on until you have ice cream. When you are ready to serve sprinkle with finishing salt. The finishing salt hold it’s texture better than kosher, sea or iodized salt. I used a French Grey salt for this recipe. It actually came out better than I had expected. The spicy isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t show up until the end but doesn’t last long. The salt really brings out all the flavors perfectly and adds a bit of texture as well.