Chocolate Gelato..

Ok, I decided to try out this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis for chocolate hazelnut gelato. I did make a few changes though since I'm not a big fan of hazelnut. Instead of using nutella I just melted some milk chocolate into the custard. It came out great! The key is to really get the mixture cold before pouring it into your ice cream maker. I learned that the hard way when 25+ minutes later I only had some cold liquid. I had only let it cool to room temp. When it didn't work I poured it out, re-froze the bowl and let the ice cream mix sit in the fridge overnight. It was incredible!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/4 cup
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella) (I used about 1/3 cup milk chocolate)
  
• 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, crushed, for garnish (I left out)
  

Directions

In a saucepan combine the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whip the egg yolks with the remaining sugar using an electric mixer until the eggs have become thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes.

Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture and stir. (I used a wisk while pouring to avoid scrambled eggs)

Add this mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Place a strainer over a medium bowl and pour the warm custard mixture through the strainer. (Don't know what the purpose of that was... mine just went right through)

Stir in the vanilla and hazelnut spread (or chocolate in my case) until it dissolves.

Chill mixture completely before pouring into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze. To serve, scoop gelato into serving bowls and top with hazelnuts.