Io Triumphe, or, Chocolate gone Nuts

Recently I wrote an email to someone because I thought they might be dead. They had done an extraordinarily good job of dropping off the face of the planet, and I wanted to be sure I hadn't made a birthday present for someone Hitchhiking the Galaxy with a towel around their shoulders, metaphorically or otherwise.

I mention this story because, obviously, I have also done an extraordinarily good job of dropping off the face of the ice-cream planet. But today, my friends, I have returned triumphant. And this time I am updating with a REAL RECIPE, not just a whining plea that you still read my blog when I hypothetically post on it again soon.

Yes, summer is rolling ever closer over the San Gabriel mountains, and my to-do list in life has been simplified to the following activities:

--practicing ukulele (currently I'm working on a Magnetic Fields song, a Weepies song, and a Justin Timberlake song. Get ready for the best summer of your life, Eagle Rock Trader Joe's parking lot.)

--reading at least 5 books at a time. (if I could link you to my account page with the library, I would. Let's just say I have 21 books checked out. In a manner of speaking.)

--making ice cream. making ice cream. making ice cream.

So yesterday was sort of a suck day. It turned on me over the course of the afternoon, and yadda yadda yadda at 5:30pm I found myself sitting in my room, writing in my journal, no lights on in the house, listening to music about car crashes. True story. Mmm. Yikes. BUT THEN! I got this phone call, and the miraculous being on the line was eating ice cream. Brief side bar: I wish we still said things like "I call you up/the line's engaged," which is a Beatles' lyric. I wish lines still got "engaged" in modern patois. Alas. The closest thing I can think of is when you go to update your twitter and it won't let you because there are too many tweets all at once. Gross. Let's move on. Anyway, my dear friend was eating ice cream, and I was in a terrible mood, and it became obvious to both of us that the answer was to make ice cream, quickly and in large quantities. So let's dive in.

First, thanks to B&J's, the reason for the season:

Light (in theory) Chocolate Ice Cream with Peanut Butter:

1 (in theory) oz. unsweetened chocolate (i used at least 4. i went a little overboard. like i said before: it was a bad day.)
4 tbsp cocoa powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup (in theory) peanut butter (again, I used way more than was called for. Turned out fine, but I love peanut butter more than most humans.)

Alrighty. So to start with, melt the chocolate on a double broiler. You may recall that I do not have one of these. I worked in a regular frying pan. I'm bohemian. Whatever.
--Once melted, stir in the cocoa powder. If it gets clumpy, fear not. The milk in the next step will chill it out. (HA! Oh, I have missed having a vehicle for such jokes.)
--Whisk milk in a little at a time, until blended. Do this on low heat, to avoid boiling the milk.
--When all the milk is mixed in, remove from heat and let cool. At this point, probably because I don't have a double broiler AND because I was talking on the phone, my mix was still lumpy. Because they were lumps of chocolate, I let it go. But in general, it should be smooth. These lumps of unsweetened chocolate and cocoa, which made it all the way into my final product are, surprise surprise, unsweetened. Next time I will get off the phone earlier and mix completely-er.
--While the stovetop concoction is cooling, whisk the eggs into a fluffy lather. This will take about 2 minutes. Once fluffily lathered, add the sugar a little at a time, and whisk until completely blended.
--Add the vanilla and the cream. The cream is really pretty when you add it. It makes swirls.
--Add the (cooled) cocoa/milk/chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Whiskify.

When a problem comes along, you must whisk it!

--Take about a cup of this mixture, and, in a separate bowl, mix in the peanut butter. Once completely blended, add back to the larger bowl.
--Cover and cool in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
--Pour into ice cream maker, run for 30 minutes.
--Watch NCIS LA finale (G's about to find out who his dad is? WHAT?!) and enjoy.