Description
This salted tahini chocolate ice cream is possibly the BEST homemade ice cream I’ve made yet. It’s rich, ultra-creamy, and it’s dairy-free and refined sugar-free!
Ingredients
Scale
- 90 g egg yolks (~5 large eggs)
- 22 g (1/2 cup) unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
- 480 g (2 cups) heavy cream and 300 g (1 ¼ cups) milk OR 760 g (3 ¼ cups) homemade nut milk (see below)*
- 1/2 cup (155 g) honey (sub with 100 g granulated cane sugar or 85 g coconut sugar)
- 3/4 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp ground vanilla or vanilla bean paste
- 60 g (1/4 cup) tahini (use a rich, smooth, and creamy tahini)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 oz (54 g) unsweetened dark chocolate
- 90 g medjool dates (~4 dates) chopped into small pieces*
Instructions
Custard Base
- Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside.
- Mix the cream and milk in a pitcher and set aside. Add the honey, sifted cocoa powder, ground vanilla or vanilla paste, and salt to a large pot. Add about 1/4 of the cream and milk mixture (or homemade nut milk) and whisk to combine, then whisk in the remaining cream and milk mixture (or homemade nut milk). I like adding the milk gradually to avoid the cocoa powder clumping. Transfer the pot to the stove and heat over medium heat until hot to the touch or 120°F.
- Scoop about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture out, and whisking constantly, stream it into the bowl of egg yolks. Repeat this twice more to temper the eggs. Then, whisking the milk mixture constantly, stream in the tempered eggs. Switch to a rubber spatula/large wooden spoon, and stir constantly (I typically stir the mixture every 10 seconds) until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon — temperature should be ~178°F.
- Remove the custard from the heat and whisk in 60 g of tahini.
- Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl or pitcher, then place it in an ice bath and stir constantly until cool. Once cool, whisk in the vanilla extract. Cover the base with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Churn & Freeze
- Melt the cacao wafers and set aside to cool slightly — I like to transfer the melted chocolate to a small measuring pitcher so I can easily stream it into the ice cream.
- Churn the ice cream as normal, but once it starts to crystallize (about 15 minutes in), start streaming in the chocolate. Keep the chocolate stream thin. Once the chocolate is streamed in, let the ice cream churn for a few more minutes to break up the chocolate bits further. Typically, I let the ice cream churn an additional 5-8 minutes until it’s the consistency of soft-serve – add the chopped dates right before you’re done churning the ice cream.
- Pop the ice cream into your container, cover with a square of parchment paper (this helps prevent crystallization on the top), and let it chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
Notes
Make the homemade nut milk by blending together 4 cups (910 g) of water with 1 1/2 cups (215 g) of raw cashews and 1 cup (140 g) of raw almonds on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds or until super creamy and smooth. Strain through a nut milk bag and store in a glass jar. It’ll keep well for 5-6 days, so feel free to make this ahead of time.
Medjool dates are super sticky and almost impossible to slice into tiny pieces at room temp, so I like to freeze the dates before chopping them up. Alternatively, you could tear the dates with your hands if they’re still too sticky to chop.