Heath Toffee Bar Ice Cream

It's been a little while since I've posted about one of our ice cream creations, so I figured what better time than the present? For this one, we experimented beyond our normal realm of the basic vanilla recipe over into chocolateland. Now, this wasn't legitimate chocolate land, but it was pretty close. The original recipe called for us to melt 1/3 cup cocoa and semisweet chocolate chips, but we didn't spring for the bar of cocoa. Instead we used cocoa powder and the melted semisweet chocolate chips, which still ended up giving us a chocolate looking (and tasting) ice cream! The way the cocoa powder melted into the mixture actually ended up giving it a flecked look, but still contained a consistent taste.

Will really loved this recipe because toffee is one of his favorite desserts! So pretty much anything toffee related makes him happy, but especially in this ice cream form. So far this was his favorite ice cream recipe we've tried (I still love the peppermint ice cream we made a few weeks ago), probably in large part due to the toffee chips. I enjoyed it as well and it was fun to make chocolate ice cream!

Cooking Notes: As I mentioned, we used cocoa powder instead of melting a dark chocolate. BUT we did still melt the chocolate chips.

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Ice Cream (adapted from Gourmet Ice Cream; serves 6)
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar, separated
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
8 oz. toffee chips (if you buy the Heath toffee chips bag, use about 1/2 the bag)

Whisk together egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until eggs are light yellow in color and fluffy. Whisk in the rest of the sugar. Combine the cream, milk, and vanilla extract, and whisk together until completely combined. Then place into a saucepan with 1/3 cup cocoa powder and chocolate chips. Whisk together on medium heat until chocolate is smooth and no lumps appear. Remove from the heat and cool completely in the fridge before making ice cream. When mixture is completely cooled, place in ice cream machine and follow manufacturers directions. 5 minutes before it finishes, add the toffee pieces.