The Ultimate Dark Chocolate & Malbec No Churn Ice Cream

I love ice cream. This could be a post about my favourite ice creams in London, I have a long list of them (my favourite being malbec and berries from Freggo, but it's a close call between that and the entire menu at Gelupo). However, it's not. This post is about the Ultimate Dark Chocolate and Malbec Ice Cream which I made with the Lindt super dark chocolate (not it's real name it's Lindt Excellence 90% dark chocolate) which I was sent by the lovely Sally. Sally is my new favourite person (sorry everyone) and it's not only because she works for Lindt (and I'm not so secretly holding out that she'll get me a job as a chocolate taster there), but her blog is full of sweet recipes and reviews, and she knows just what to say. Evident from when I was pondering on what to make with the enormous box of Lindt chocolate bars she sent me she said those precious three little words to me.
Chocolate Ice Cream.

As I said ice cream is my jam, my cake, my macaron. But sadly although I can make all the other things at home I've never been able to recreate ice cream. I've tried, I've made sorbets and granitas but everytime I've tried to make an ice cream it has never worked due to one crucial missing element. I don't have an ice cream maker. I feel like everyone under the sun has one bar me. To be fair there's not a lot of space in our flat's little kitchen to put one (or anything!) in there. But alas this year, 2015, is the year of the no churn ice cream. I saw Nigella Lawson make her coffee one and my first thoughts were that's so cool but I don't really like coffee (sorry folks it's true) and I was a bit unsure about condensed milk.

Condensed milk is an ingredient I'd never used before, that is before I made these pretty pink Raspberry Caramel Millionaires Shortbread. The shortbread were a triumph and I was converted to appreciating the powers of condensed milk but still in an ice cream? Ok I'm sure it's great in caramel ice cream or coffee but for other flavours I wasn't so sure. Queue an explosion of different condensed milk ice creams on the internet which showed me the light. With Lindt chocolate in hand, I had to make a chocolate ice cream, and inspired by the malbec and berries ice cream at Freggo I decided to do a twist on the old chocolate staple by adding in my favourite red wine. As we all know chocolate and red wine go together really well, whether you're drinking and eating them straight up on the sofa while watching Suits (my Friday night in a nutshell), or you know you're cooking them together in your beef bourginion, spaghetti bolognaise or chilli, it gives an added depth that speaks to your soul or at least mine.

It may look like I have arrogantly named this The 'Ultimate' Dark Chocolate and Malbec No Churn Ice Cream, and I have. But this title wasn't given by me but by my dinner party friends, particularly my foodie friend and brother to my lover (him and Dan are creepily close) Louie (talked about here, here and everywhere). Louie proclaimed this is the best chocolate ice cream he'd had and he would happily pay £5 for a scoop. He's certainly my rudest critic so I take this as high praise.

I know what you're thinking, why did I stupidly share the ice cream with my friends. Sometimes I have charitable moments, this was one of them (it won't happen again). I have since put the world to rights by eating this ice cream solo on the couch while watching Bake Off instead of going for a run. I personally think Mary Berry would encourage my actions as she's known to love a good bit of chocolate and a tipple, perhaps this should be renamed as The Mary Berry Approved Ultimate Dark Chocolate & Malbec No Churn Ice Cream but maybe I'm getting ideas above my station/Mary will sue me (she wouldn't, she wouldn't hurt a fly, she's an angel in icing). I'd also like to point out I don't sit on the sofa and eat food all the time; sometimes I lie down on it.

This ice cream is delicious. The wine really brings out the flavour of the dark chocolate and the texture which is quite similar to Gelato is almost moussey (new adjective alert). If you don't like red wine feel free to leave it out and just go for the dark chocolate alone. If you don't like dark chocolate you could take it out but that would be sacrilege and we don't condone that sort of behaviour here. It's a judgement free zone but don't take the mick.

The Ultimate Dark Chocolate & Malbec No Churn Ice Cream

(makes 750ml)

160g Dark Chocolate 90% cocoa solids (I used Lindt Excellence 90%)

300ml Double Cream

1/2 can Condensed Milk (~198ml) 

400ml of Malbec

Step 1. In a saucepan reduce the 400ml of Malbec on a medium heat until there's approximately 6-8 tbsps left, then set it aside to cool down.

Step 2. Break the dark chocolate up and melt it till it's runny and smooth. You can do this however you want, in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, in the microwave or do as I did and melt it on a low heat in a saucepan. Bear in mind if you choose to follow me in my chocolate melting activities you have to keep stirring it and watch it doesn't get too hot and start to burn. 

Step 3. In a large bowl, whisk together the double cream and condensed milk until you reach stiff peaks. Then fold in the chocolate and the reduced malbec until it's all mixed in. 

Step 4. Pour the mixture into a 500ml freezable container, you can buy disposable pots online, use a tupperware box or just pour it into a cake tin a la moi. Make sure you cover the ice cream with a lid or tightly wrap it in clingfilm, then put it in the freezer for 6 hours. 

Step 5. Before you serve the ice cream take it out of the freezer for about 15 minutes to loosen up. I served this to my friends as the dessert in fancy wine glasses, but then I also ate it on my own straight out of the tin after they left. The choice is yours there's no judgement in this post (unless you don't eat the ice cream, then there is judgement). 

God looking at this ice cream has got my mouth watering for more! I've made a couple new no churn flavours which I'll share shortly but if anyone has any of their own recipes for non churn ice cream please drop me a link to them below. Personally I'm all up for a peanut butter chocolate chip version which is probably going to be my next attempt. Or a pistachio one. Or strawberry. Too many flavours! If you live in London make sure to check out my fave ice cream places, I'd also love to hear your recommendations, so what's your favourite ice cream?

Thanks to Sally from The Cat Café who works for Lindt and the chocolate gurus themselves (Lindt, that's you!) for sending me a box of the finest dark chocolate around. All opinions are from yours truly!