Mexican drinking chocolate is a very sweet, spicy-cinnamony disk of chocolate meant for grating into hot milk to make, well, hot chocolate. That is all I had used it for before I found this recipe and was intrigued by the use of half-and-half only and just three whole eggs rather than a mess of egg yolks. To accommodate the amount of half-and-half I had left, I reduced the recipe by about a third (it was still close to filling up my ice cream maker, so not sure how the full recipe would have done). This was a perfectly balanced, creamy, delicious ice cream and a great use of Mexican chocolate if you find that the hot drink season has yet again passed before you could get through your tea and chocolate stash. I bought Ibarra chocolate at the Buford Highway Farmers Market in Atlanta, but this is a pretty good deal if you need to buy it online.
Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
Yield: about 1 quart
1/2 a vanilla bean
7 1/2 oz. Mexican chocolate, coarsely chopped (do not substitute regular chocolate)
2 1/2 cups half-and-half
2 large eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
1. Halve the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into a medium saucepan. Add the chopped chocolate and half-and-half and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking frequently. Remove from heat.
2. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt in large bowl or glass 4-cup measuring cup. Slowly add half the hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking vigorously, then scrape that mixture back into the saucepan. Return to moderately low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until it thickens (or reaches 170 degrees), about 1-3 minutes. Immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set in an ice bath. Cool to about 40 degrees before transferring to the refrigerator. Chill for several hours and then freeze in your ice cream maker.
