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 one! I love my Cuisinart machine, which is a lot of bang for your buck. You can also get a more industrial model or even an ice cream attachment for your stand mixer. Not ready to make a purchase? Make no-churn ice cream!
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.
Notes
Making this now and am very excited! Your pictures are lovely as well.
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!
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.
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!
completely dying right now.
I need to do more of this… bring the older recipes back, re-photograph and share again! This is gorgeous and yummy!
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.
This is definitely the best way to start the summer!
Looks like we are on the same path here. Cheers to summer with ice cream 🙂
Love the photos in this post. Gorgeous top shot of the ice cream, and great photos of the family too.
This looks incredible!
gah!!! Such gorgeous props, styling and photos!!
The flavors sound great in this ice cream, and your photos are stunning!
looks delicious and I am loving those summery photos! AD is killing it.
I love chocolate hazelnut treats, this ice cream looks wonderful!