Meet Me At The Malt Shoppe

To know me is to know I love chocolate. In any cookbook I turn to the dessert section first, honing in like a heat-seeking missile to anything with chocolate in it. I loved making the fodder for the previous two posts, but strangely hadn't yet made anything chocolate. So when I browsed my newest library find,The All-American Dessert Book, of course I immediately picked up on the Chocolate Double-Malted Milk Ice Cream. It had two things going for it. It was chocolate and it featured my husband's favorite candy, Whoppers, so I could plausibly say I was making it just for him. Um, yeah, right.

I might have made it just for him but he certainly didn't have to wade through a whole quart of it by himself. We all happily yummed it up. It was smooth, creamy, and gently chocolatey, with the extra interesting texture from the malted milk ball pieces. Because of the gelatin it was really easy to put together and since it had such a long chill time I just left it in the refrigerator overnight and then froze it just before dinner. Easy dessert!

Chocolate Double-Malted Milk Ice Cream

1 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 Tbsp cold water
Scant 2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1-1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1 cup plain malted milk powder (not chocolate flavored)
1-1/2 cups half-and-half
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2-3/4 cup chopped malted milk balls, frozen


In a small bowl, stir the gelatin into the water. Let stand, stirring once or twice, until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, thoroughly stir together the sugar, cocoa, and salt until well blended. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream and the gelatin mixture until well blended. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat, whisking until the gelatin dissolves. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the malted milk powder into the half-and-half until the mixture is completely smooth. Stir the half-and -half mixture and vanilla into the cocoa mixture until smooth. Return the saucepan to the heat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until hot. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4-1/2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer's directions. When the ice cream is finished processing, fold in the chopped malted milk balls until evenly incorporated. Turn out the ice cream into a chilled plastic storage container. Let firm up for at least 1 hour in the freezer before serving. Tightly covered, the ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.