TWD: German Chocolate Ice Cream, Ya!

Attention all chocoholics, sweet lovers, and gluttons of good food, have I got a dessert for you!

The fabulous Katrina, of Baking and Boys! (gotta have that exclamation mark) chose Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. If you're not familiar with Katrina, quit reading now--but please do come back--and check out her blog, because she is awesome. Funny, enthusiastic, with super cute sons and delicious recipes like raspberry chocolate chip cookies. Love her!

Another thing I love is this recipe for chocolate ice cream. I'd made it before, and despite the fact that it always causes my cheapie ice cream maker to go into convulsions (it hardens quickly and usually ends up having seizures before it's fully churned. Small price to pay for good ice cream) it's one of my favorites. Since I've already tried it plain, I decided to spice things up a little by making German Chocolate Ice Cream, with brownie chunks and swirls of rich coconut-pecan sauce.


However, the road to greatness is never smooth, and I learned several hard lessons during the course of making this dessert.

* Lesson 1: there is a difference between ½ cup of flour and 1-1/2 cups of flour. A big difference. Thrice the amount of recommended flour-style difference. When making the brownies, I accidentally triple the amount of flour the recipe called for. It was late, and I was tired from lugging boxes down to our storage space, and also, reading is hard. I didn't realize my mistake until I noticed that the batter was extremely sticky and actively fighting back at my attempts to stir it.

As the flour was the last ingredient, I decided to bake them off anyway and see if they would be usable in the ice cream. You might ask yourself what a brownie batch with three times the amount of flour looks like. Wonder no more:


Sexy, right? And by "sexy," I mean "nasty." BUT! It turns out I AM a culinary genius, because these brownies were perfect! I wanted something that had a cakey texture (hence the German Chocolate "Cake" part) but could keep its shape when mixed and scooped into ice cream.


These little nuggets were definitely on the cakey side, and they were sturdy without being too dense or hard. I wouldn't have served them plain, but for use in ice cream, they were totally fine.

* Lesson 2: it is impossible to make coconut-pecan sauce look appetizing. Even if you know what it is, and can imagine how delicious it tastes, it still looks like the vomit of Satan. Enjoy!


*Lesson 3: Ditto the above for German Chocolate Ice Cream. After the chocolate was churned, I stirred in the brownie bits, and then carefully swirled and layered the coconut-pecan sauce. It. Was. Amazing. But when it came time to photograph, the sauce blended into the ice cream and the whole thing looked like regular chocolate ice cream. You'll just have to imagine the hidden pockets of rich, brown-sugary sauce with chunks of toasted pecans and chewy coconut.


*Lesson 4: Despite all good intentions, it is impossible to resist eating several helpings of German Chocolate Ice Cream when you're photographing it. It starts innocently enough: a stray brownie bite here, a lick of the coconut-pecan spoon there, but soon you find yourself standing over the sink, tipping the bowl upside-down to lick out the last melty spoonfuls of ice cream. Or is that just me? Tell me it's not just me.


The ice cream recipe can be found over on Katrina's blog, and my recipe for coconut-pecan sauce (basically a looser version of the coconut-pecan frosting commonly found on German chocolate cakes) is below the cut. I'd give you the brownie recipe, but I don't quite trust myself to get the quantities right…just use your favorite cakey brownies, and don't forget to double-check the flour!



Coconut-Pecan Sauce for German Chocolate Ice Cream

1 stick (4 oz) butter, cubed
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 large egg yolks
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
heavy pinch salt
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Combine the butter, evaporated milk, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Heat the mixture almost to boiling, stirring often so it doesn't scorch. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks in a medium bowl.

Once it's simmering, temper the hot liquid into the yolks, then pour the whole thing back in the saucepan. Add the vanilla and the salt. Continue to cook, whisking often, until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Recipes always say to not let it boil, but I've been neglectful and boiled it before and nothing terrible happens.

Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the pecans and coconut. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until chilled. Makes a wicked awesome ice cream topping, oh yeah. [For cake frosting, take the evaporated milk down to one cup.]