Thursday, September 10, 2009

Motivational Carrot Ice Cream



Homeschooling has many challenges. I won't name names, to protect the innocent, but one of my children lives in his/her own world, sings his/her own theme song, and has the attention of a butterfly on crack. It's tough to get this child to settle down, focus, stop humming the Duel of the Fates, and finish an assigned page of work.

I know there are many different strategies for dealing with a child like this. I'm a firm believer in a combination of threats and bribery - the carrot and the stick. If this child knows there's no playing with toys, no TV time, and most importantly, no ice cream until the work is finished, he/she is much more likely to finish his work in 2 hours, rather than 12 hours.

Obviously, a key to my homeschooling success is to have a freezer well-stocked with ice cream. My most recent churning is heavenly. It's a luscious dark chocolate, sprinkled with cacao nibs. The base for the ice cream is so thick it's like pouring pudding into the ice cream freezer. Make sure you have a heavy duty ice cream maker for this one. I made it once in my Donvier and I broke the handle trying to turn it!




The Depths of Chocolate Ice Cream
- adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
3 Tbsp (21 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 oz (140 g) bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), chopped*
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cacao nibs*


1- Warm 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Stir in the remaining 1 cup (250 ml) cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top fo the bowl.

2- Without washing the pan, warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Set the bowl on a rubber glove or silicone hot pad to keep it from skittering over the counter. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

3- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

4- Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, several hours or overnight, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

* I used Amano Jembrana 70% dark chocolate and Amano Madagascar Cacao nibs in this. Fabulous!

20 comments:

Janelle said...

I'm confused...carrot?

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Kudos for getting the kid to focus, haha :-D

Awesome ice cream!! Although I too am confused about the carrot reference... don't you mean chocolate?? Haha.

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Janelle and VeggieGirl - Motivation comes from the carrot or the stick. The ice cream is the carrot, no toys or TV is the stick.

sarah said...

You should re name the post - "carrot on a stick ice cream".

Second, you totally gave it away! "finish HIS work in 2 hours, rather than 12 hours."

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

AHHHH I see now, haha - sorry for misunderstanding! Now I get it :-D

Gabriela said...

An excellent post, Cookie! Your photos are par excellence and I adore the little bowl.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

It took me a moment to clue in. I was looking all over for the sweet carrots in this ice cream (which may not be bad:D)

Katrina said...

De-lish! I'm so love DL's Scoop book this summer! My favorite is the eggless chocolate ice cream, but only because I don't need the eggs. Both are fabulous and I agree about the bribing! ;)

grace said...

i get it! yeah, all you'd need to dangle in front of me is a spoonful of this heaven. :)

Anh said...

Oh my. The depth of chocolate ice-cream. What a name!

Maria said...

Chocolate ice cream just makes life better!

Barbara said...

I had a son like yours- bribery works! Your ice cream would get me to do just about anything!

Debbie said...

Great motivational idea. Not much can top homemade chocolate ice cream!

eatme_delicious said...

At first I thought this was going to be carrot ice cream (mmm carrot cake ice cream) but the chocolate ice cream definitely does't disappoint either! Ice cream is a great motivator. ;)

CookiePie said...

Ooooooh - that looks DIVINE!!

Marysol said...

I must've been a weird kid, and an even weirder adult, because I was sucked in by the 'carrot' ice cream title.

I just made David's Mint Ice Cream and that was just fine. But I haven't tried his chocolate ice cream. That confirms it, I'm weird.

Elle said...

That's some carrot! Deep dark chocolate is a good thing, every time.

Palidor said...

The title threw me at first 'cause I was expecting carrot ice cream! That would be interesting too, but I'd prefer this lovely chocolate one!!

Abby said...

Butterfly on crack. That's hilarious!

And my 14-month-old loves ice cream already. It will be a good bribe in the future!

Lien said...

Great motivation, maybe I should use that one myself whenever I don't feel like working. I think you're so brave to school your children yourself, I think that's really a tough job! To be honest I'm glad my kids are off in the morning to have a little time for myself (I especially treasure the silence!)