Malted Milk Chocolate M&M Ice Cream

I warned you that this was coming…

I basically broke out my ice cream maker this spring as soon as it stopped snowing. I think that may have been around the first week of April, and in the nearly two months that have passed since then I have churned three or four different ice cream recipes. And I have a list of at least five more I want to make this summer. It’s lucky for me that Shane has the metabolism of a teenager because someone needs to eat all this ice cream I have my heart set on trying.

I’m sure I’ve probably mentioned this before, but when it comes to chocolate, milk chocolate is as good as it gets for me. Oh, and white chocolate, but that’s another story entirely. Notice a trend here? I’m definitely all about the super sweet. Maybe my palate just isn’t sophisticated enough but I find dark chocolate too bitter and rich. As a cookie mix-in I’ll eat it, but that’s about the only way.

So of course you won’t be surprised to learn that I couldn’t resist trying a milk chocolate-based ice cream recipe. The interesting thing about this recipe is that there’s no added sugar. All of the sweetness comes from the milk chocolate itself, as well as the addition of malted milk powder, which by now we know has me seriously addicted. The ice cream is super creamy with a mild chocolate flavor, which I amped up a little bit by adding mini M&Ms. The original recipe called for chopped bittersweet chocolate rather than the M&Ms and you could definitely go that route instead if you really wanted to infuse more intense chocolate flavor.

Even if milk chocolate isn’t your favorite, I think you’ll dig this ice cream. It’s not overly sweet, and the malted milk powder keeps it from being one-dimensional in flavor. I’m thinking it would also be really good sandwiched in between chocolate chip cookies, so I’m adding that to my agenda for this summer too!

Malted Milk Chocolate M&M Ice Cream
barely adapted from Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones by Kris Hoogergyde, Anne Walker, and Dabney Gough

1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup malted milk powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 large egg yolks
6 oz milk chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup mini M&Ms

To make the ice cream: Add the heavy cream, milk, malted milk powder, and the salt to a medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl until pale in color. Add the chopped milk chocolate to a second heatproof bowl and set aside. Slowly add the warm cream mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour back into the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (about 170-175 F on an instant read thermometer). Pour the custard into the bowl containing the chopped chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Strain this mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into another bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (overnight is good).

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In the last minute of churning add the mini M&Ms, letting them distribute throughout the ice cream (you could also do this by hand if you don’t want to risk breaking them up in the machine). Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Makes about 1 quart