Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream
A classic pairing of chocolate and hazelnut, in an intensely creamy ice cream.
This last weekend we celebrated a long Memorial Day weekend and with it, the beginning of summer. It was a near perfect weekend, filled with time spent enjoying the outdoors and sunshine, grilling, summer cocktails, the return of Arrested Development, and even a few glorious naps.
What made the weekend even better, was a batch of homemade ice cream. And not just any ice cream, but one of my all-time favorites, chocolate hazelnut. This recipe has been on my blog for a few years now buried among bad photographs and confusing instructions, and was in desperate need of an update.
Chocolate and hazelnut are such a classic flavor combination, and one you see a lot of here. I’ve got brownies, cookies, fudge sauce, and ice cream. Give me a few more years and I’ll likely give you as many new chocolate hazelnut recipes. I just can’t get enough.
This ice cream is creamy and intensely rich. The chocolate surprisingly takes a backseat to the hazelnut and the ice cream is all the better for it. It’s sure to become a favorite of yours, just as it is a favorite of mine.
baking tip:Choosing an ice cream machine
If you don’t already own and ice cream machine but have wanted one, now is the perfect time to buy to enjoy homemade ice cream all summer long. Even if you don’t consider yourself an expert in the kitchen, ice cream is an easy treat anyone can master.
I love my Cuisinart machine, which is a lot of bang for your buck. You can also get a more expensive model or even an ice cream attachment for your stand mixer. Not ready to make a purchase? See my tips on making ice cream without a machine.
Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups hazelnuts (185 grams)
- 1 cup whole milk (237 ml, 8 fl oz)
- 2 cups heavy cream (375 ml, 16 fl oz)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
- 8 ounces milk chocolate , finely chopped (230 grams)
- 5 large egg yolks
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread the hazelnuts in an even layer on a non-greased sheet pan. Bake the nuts for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring once or twice so that they toast evenly. The nuts should be lightly golden brown. Let the nuts cool completely, then rub them in a kitchen towel to remove as much of the skins as possible. Finely chop the hazelnuts in a food processor.
- Warm the milk with 1 cup of the cream, sugar, and salt in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture starts steaming, and just before it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and stir in the hazelnuts. Cover and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, put 4 ounces of the milk chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat the remaining 1 cup heavy cream until it just begins to boil. Pour it over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
- Pour the hazelnut-infused milk through a strainer into a separate bowl, squeezing the nuts to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the hazelnuts. Return hazelnut-infused milk to the saucepan and set over medium low heat.
- In the bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. When the hazelnut mixture is warm, slowly add it to the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, while whisking constantly. Pour the custard through a strainer into the bowl with the chilled chocolate mixture. Add the vanilla and stir until combined.
- Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator for several hours, or overnight. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, adding the remaining 4 ounces of chopped chocolate during the last 5 minutes of churning.
- Let the ice cream firm up in the freezer for a few hours before serving.
This sounds amazing! I LOVE chocolate and hazelnuts. If I ever finally get an ice cream maker, this will definitely be one of the first recipes I try.
Wow… super inviting…
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Event: Healing Foods – Banana
Oh dear, the weather is making me need this!
Seriously am drooling over that wonderful icecream,soo tempting!
Mmm! I haven't paired chocolate and hazelnut in my ice cream yet but that is about to change! It looks wonderful 🙂
What a great Nutella flavor mixture in an ice cream!
This sounds absolutely scrumptious!!!:) Looks it too!
This looks good enough to eat year round. Why enjoy ice cream that looks this good only in the summer? 🙂
I love the chocolate hazelnut combination. Will need to make this ice cream soon.
Yes yes! I am in major ice cream making mode right now and this one looks amazing. I love the fresh hazelnuts in combo with the chocolate! Yum 🙂
Sues
I'm dying over this ice cream. It looks that much more appealing to me because of the melty-ness. I think ice cream is so much tastier when it's soft.
I just made this and its wonderful! It seemed a bit fussy to make but when I actually started it really was easy and came together quickly. I’m sure I’ll make this again!
So happy you enjoyed it!
Looks like you made the most of weekend! This ice cream looks absolutely divine- I love the serving dish you used!
Believe it or not today was the first time I tried chocolate hazelnut ice-cream (such a coincidence!) and totally, absolutely, completely loved it! I can’t wait to make it myself, obviously following your recipe…thanks for the perfect timing 🙂
xo, Elisa
This looks seriously perfect! Yum!
I love chocolate hazelnut treats, this ice cream looks wonderful!
looks delicious and I am loving those summery photos! AD is killing it.
The flavors sound great in this ice cream, and your photos are stunning!
gah!!! Such gorgeous props, styling and photos!!
This looks incredible!
Love the photos in this post. Gorgeous top shot of the ice cream, and great photos of the family too.
Looks like we are on the same path here. Cheers to summer with ice cream 🙂
This is definitely the best way to start the summer!
Sounds like the perfect weekend indeed! Now I’m fantasizing about watching the whole new season of Arrested Development while munching on this wonderful chocolate hazelnut ice cream. I love chocolate and hazelnuts so much.
I need to do more of this… bring the older recipes back, re-photograph and share again! This is gorgeous and yummy!
completely dying right now.
Hazelnut is one of my mom’s favorite. I’ll be visiting her soon and will try and convince her that we need to make this!
This looks wonderful, but I’m confused by the step that says to discard hazelnuts, then to return the hazelnuts to the saucepan. Can you clarify? And, if you are supposed to dump the hazelnuts, would there be any harm in adding them back in with the chocolate in the last five minutes of churning? Thanks!
Hi Julie! My apologies for the confusion, there was a typo in the recipe that I have now fixed. After you strain out the hazelnuts, it is the hazelnut-infused milk that is returned to the saucepan. And you could certainly add the hazelnuts (or at least some of them) back into the ice cream during churning if you want! For this recipe I wanted a super smooth ice cream, so I chose to leave them out.
This looks divine! Just a quick question: am I supposed to chill the chocolate mixture, and if so, for how long? It says in step 5 to “pour the custard through a strainer into the bowl with the chilled chocolate mixture” but I don’t see where it says to chill the mixture. Maybe I missed something?
Can’t wait to try it, the pics look beautiful and sooooo scrumptious!
Making this now and am very excited! Your pictures are lovely as well.
I love creamy ice cream. Now, I can make it in my home 🙂
This Ice Cream is so yummy. I will try it 🙂
OMG! you really read my mind. I have a strong feeling for chocolate on my heart. This looks so delicious, i will make one tomorrow. Thanks for the direction and a quick note.
Looks so yummy! i will make one tomorrow, and thanks for the direction and a quick note.
I made this several times a decade ago when it was first published. I looked all over online to find it again and I did! I remembered it being completely homogeneous, so I passed over the recipe several times. I’m looking forward to trying the updated way as well. This recipe is incredible. All of my family still remembers it.