Askinosie Cocoa~ Cold School Style

Consider this post a not~so~subtle reminder that Cupcake Hero entries are due May 31st. That's right around the corner cupcake peeps... Oh yeah, did you happen to catch the prize this month? No?!? Well no worries, here's a not~so~subtle prize reminder:
"Prizes this month kick ass, if I do say so myself. Askinosie Chocolate is going to provide a prize for the winner AND feature the winning recipe on their website. Does it get any cooler than that? No, no it does not. Many thanks to Shawn at Askinosie for being such a huge supporter of our cupcake cause."

Uh huh, aren't you glad I reminded you now? In case your creative juices aren't kicking in yet, I thought I'd whip up my own salute to Askinosie Cocoa powder. I didn't want to steal any cupcake thunder though, so I decided to honor the chocolate in the form of my new obsession. I warned you didn't I??



I wanted a recipe that really was full-on chocolate. So for this I actually also used their chocolate bars. As the cocoa is Del Tambo, I went the same way with the chocolate bar. And yeah, you should totally covet my cocoa powder- in case you are wondering it is in fact a whole Kilo. You can hook up with my dealer here. And I'm pretty sure I'm not winning any Mother of the Year awards cause my Monkey never got sick of saying~ "Mom has a Kilo of powder in her bag. *snicker* *snicker* " Uh huh... that's my kid. I'm so proud... You should be jealous tho~ I can just go pick my goods up any time I want. I don't need no stinkin internet drugs... ehrrr, cocoa powder.



Chocolate Covered Cherry Truffle Ice Cream
Makes 1 Quart/ 2 Pints

1- 16 oz. jar Maraschino Cherries
1/2 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 cup Whole Milk
1/4 cup San Jose Del Tambo Cocoa Powder
1-1/2 cups Heavy Cream
6 oz. San Jose Del Tambo Chocolate, chopped
2 T Amaretto

Prepare the Cherries the night before: Drain the juice from the cherries into a small heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring the juice up to a boil and then reduce to low heat. Let the juice reduce for a good 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat when it has reduced to at least 1/2 of its previous amount. While it is cooling, quarter chop the cherries. Place into a freezer bag that will safely hold liquids. When the juice has completely cooled, carefully pour it into the bag over the chopped cherries. Make sure the bag is completely sealed and roll it into a log to secure the juice and cherries at the bottom of the freezer bag. Freeze overnight.

For the Ice Cream: Whisk together (I used a handheld mixer) sugar and eggs in a bowl until well incorporated and frothy, 3 minutes. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring milk to a simmer over low heat. You will just begin to see heat/ steam and should be able to smell the milk cooking. Be careful NOT to boil the milk or overcook, you just want it at simmer. Whisk in the cocoa powder and bring the milk back to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Gently drizzle a small amount of the warm milk into the egg/ sugar mixture while whisking vigorously. You are tempering the eggs without cooking them. It's important to be patient here and just drizzle in small amounts of milk while constantly whisking to bring up the temperature of the eggs. Once the milk is completely incorporated into the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and continue to simmer over lowest heat setting. Stirring constantly the mixture will thicken slightly, 10 minutes. Put the mixture back into the bowl to cool while you prepare the chocolate.

In the saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. As soon as it is warm and you can smell it, remove from heat and add chopped chocolate. Stir in the chocolate until it is completely melted and incorporated and resembles a creamy ganache. Mix into the cocoa/ milk mixture and combine. Whisk in Amaretto and make sure everything is well incorporated. Allow to cool for a few minutes so that mixture is closer to room temp. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Can sit overnight if you want to make ahead.

Remove mixture from the refrigerator and pour into prepared ice cream maker. I'm using the Cuisinart which has a bowl you freeze ahead. I let the ice cream churn for 30 minutes. Fold in the frozen cherry mixture. The ice cream was ready to eat but I put it into containers to harden a little more in the freezer.



Coming Clean
This is incredibly rich chocolate ice cream! It tastes like an ice cold truffle. Ridiculously good. If you decide to try this- be sure to use good chocolate because the better the chocolate the more it will shine through in the final product. This ice cream really was all about honoring great chocolate. It tasted just like a rich chocolate covered cherry, the almond flavor bounces off the chocolate perfectly. For those of you tracking the bottom line- uhm yeah, this was rich ice cream in every sense of the word. I wanted something special for the holiday weekend though and everyone definitely could tell this was something special right away. Their loud moans the second their tongue touched the spoon was kind of a dead giveaway. And to be honest, a little bit went a long way with this rich ice cream. I posted the recipe for the chocolate bowls in the picture here. I also used Askinosie Cocoa powder to make those. And for the love of Pete- if you go to the trouble of using good chocolate, please be sure to indulge in good cream and eggs as well. Remember- this stuff is barely cooked and the true flavors of the ingredients will be the defining flavors in the end. Splurge a little~ you are SO worth it!