Tuesdays with Dorie: Velvety Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream

It's time for Tuesdays with Dorie, so tie up your apron and bake along. Forget the bakery! Make your own treats at home on the cheap and wow your family, friends and neighbors.
This week I made a chilling discovery.....
After having such success eschewing cooked custard recipes for homemade ice cream last week, I wondered if my Tuesdays with Dorie chocolate pudding assignment could morph into a frozen confection. Why not, I asked myself? Pudding is a cooked custard, after all, albeit thickened with cornstarch. I checked in with baking goddess Dorie herself (via email) to see if pudding could possibly churn itself into ice cream. Her response: "I don’t have a clue whether or not you can churn the chocolate pudding in an ice cream maker, but boy does it sound like it could be great if it worked! "
Hmm....it could be great if it worked was all the encouragement that I needed. Still, I started off cautious, careful, practical, and oh yes, frugal. I made a half batch, and I used chocolate chips instead of the good chocolate, just in case it turned out to have the consistency of an icy jello pudding pop that Bill Cosby used to advertise on TV. (I actually did like them-iciness and all.) But it wasn't icy at all! It was luscious, creamy and smooth-"frozen chocolate butter" as Quiet Man described it. "Ooh-is this chocolate gelato?" enquired my unsuspecting sister. Suddenly, I had visions of opening a summer-only ice cream shop on Nantucket, highlighting this sensuous chocolate pudding recipe, and making myself millions of dollars and turning into Prudence Pound Foolish. But then...I'd miss all of you, dear readers, and what would I do with my stock of clipped coupons? So, alas, I deferred another dream and instead share my "chilling" discovery with you. And if any of you open a summer ice cream shop on Nantucket, can I have a free cone? If it's chocolate pudding ice cream, make it a double scoop.
And one last thing-since this ice cream simply "melts" into pudding, it makes a perfect drip-free cone for your little charges.
Velvety Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream-only slightly adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Estimated Cost: $4.00
Notes: I made only a half batch, unsure if it would really work. Next time I'm going to double-no triple-the recipe. I also used a blender, since I don't own a food processor.
2 and 1/4 cup milk (I used 2 percent)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (Dorie actually calls for 1 egg and 2 egg yolks)
1 scant cup semi sweet chocolate chips (Dorie calls for chopped bittersweet chocolate)
2 tablespoons room temperature butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Bring 2 cups milk and 3 tablespoons sugar to boil in a medium saucepan. While the milk is heating, process cocoa, cornstarch and salt in food processor. Place cocoa mixture on a sheet of waxed paper. Process remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and eggs for one minute. Scrape down the sides and add remaining cool 1/4 cup milk. Add the dry ingredients and blend. Slowly with the machine running, add the hot milk mixture. Transfer back to saucepan, add chocolate chips and butter and whisk until smooth and thickened over medium heat, about two minutes. Whisk in vanilla off the heat. (Dorie puts the mixture back into the processor, but I skipped this step since it would churn smoother in the ice cream maker.)
Cool pudding in refrigerator. Transfer to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions.
Coming Tomorrow:
Roasted "Calabacitas" and Tomatillo Pasta