I’ve found that when making chocolate ice cream, only use recipes that call for melted chocolate. I can never quite get powdered cocoa dissolved completely and the ice cream will be a little grainy.
Don’t forget the rock salt.
And hopefully the hubby got you an electric churn and not the old hand crank.
I’ll second the liquid nitrogen suggestion. If you get an appropriate container (which is admittedly not cheap) then LN is no more dangerous than a deep fryer. LN ice cream has a couple of advantages over the old fashioned process:
- It’s fast. You can go from base to frozen ice cream in about 30 seconds.
- The ice cream freezes so fast that ice crystals don’t have a chance to form. This leads to a smoother, denser result. It will be better than just about anything you can buy.
- Since it’s quick you can make individual-sized batches. When we make ice cream everybody gets to make their own with ingredients they choose. (We usually start with a plain vanilla base.)
- It can easily make alcoholic ice cream. Harvey’s Bristol Cream is a favorite.
I have two favorite flavors. Both start with vanilla bean base.
- Cinnamon. Add the cinnamon to the base and taste it. Keep adding until you like the flavor then freeze. This goes great with apple deserts like pie.
- Strawberry. There is a jam kitchen on Cape Code that sells “sun cooked strawberry juice”. I don’t know what those ladies put into it but when it’s mixed into the ice cream base along with fresh strawberries it produces an ice cream that explodes in my mouth and dances the rumba on my taste buds.
Only on the dope would people recommend a solution (liquid nitrogen) that is probably cost prohibitive (in excess of $500 for supplies and materials) to your average consumer, when you can purchase a traditional electric ice cream freezer for $25.
For chocolate swirl ice cream, melt your favorite chocolate and stir in a little bit of coconut oil. It will make it so the chocolate sets up soft. It will firm up as soon as it hits the ice cream so you put it in the last few seconds. Drizzle it as the machine runs.
Dulce de leche also works very well as a mix in. It swirls nicely without melting in so you get caramel swirl ice cream.
Feel free to do both chocolate and caramel swirls with your favorite nut.
The only outlier cost is for the dewar and I was able to get mine cheap (long story). The LN itself is not expensive, usually $1-$2/liter and one normally doesn’t need more than a few liters to make ice cream for a group.
The dewar needn’t be expensive, either. An ordinary coffee Thermos will work, provided that you cut the threads off of the cap so it doesn’t seal (sealing a container of liquid nitrogen is a really bad idea). The only hard part is finding a place you can get it from, but any university physics department will be able to hook you up, as well as a number of industries. Heck, go the university route and you’ll probably find several students volunteering to come to your kid’s birthday party to do it for you, if you’re afraid to handle it yourself.
If you want to go fancy, Jeni’s of Columbus, OH, has a recipe book (the Kindle edition is ~2.50 right now). I bought it yesterday on a whim and it has me wanting to buy an ice cream maker now. 
Nutella Gelato
Need I say more? 
I think the best flavor we ever did was Basil - Pineapple. Steeped the basil in the cream, added finely minced basil and some pineapple juice along with the chopped pineapple. It was incredibly good.
The best flavour I ever made was a candied bacon & pecan dulce le leche swirl ice cream. I modified a couple of different recipes to make it. I have a friend who doesn’t even like ice cream and she has asked me to make it again.
That sounds amazing!
Since I already have an ice cream churn, plus plenty of misgivings, I’ll stick with the traditional preparations, though, versus liquid nitrogen! (And yes, the churn is electric, but it also has a handle just in case I ever need to use it manually. I guess that would be handy enough if an afternoon thunderstorm knocks out the power. Or if I suddenly lost my mind and decided to go camping…)
Do you all use a machine? If so, any recommendations?
I use the freezer attachment for my KitchenAid mixer (partly because I have the mixer already anyway). It’s a bowl that you freeze for 24 hours before putting it on the mixer stand and pouring in the ice cream base. It works very well for me.
IMHO if you want really good homemade ice cream you have to use a custard-style base where you temper the eggs then cook until thickened and freeze overnight (see, for example the link in post # 16). If the base is good, then any flavors will be better.
I’ve done the liquid nitrogen thing several times and it’s tons of fun; a few years ago our CTO had a policy that everyone at some point had to get up and give a talk about something (anything at all) at our regular department meetings, so I gave a speech on ice cream and finished off by making fresh ice cream for 50 people in just a few minutes.
It’s wonderfully mad scientist - as the LN boils off it produces clouds of fog and I was standing there with a face shield stirring away.
Aside from a dewar of LN there’s nothing special needed (my dad is a professor at a big university and so I had easy access to the stuff); use wooden utensils and a metal stockpot (no glass!), wear a face shield (or at least some splash goggles) and insulated gloves (oven mitts are fine). Instructions are readily available online (basically comes down to “mix cream, sugar and flavorings in pot, pour in LN, stir”).
I only needed to bring flavorings (a bottle of vanilla and some chocolate chips), just asked the folks who maintained our coffee areas if I could steal a few cartons of half & half and a container of sugar.
Incredibly yummy, very fast and people love to watch. Do this for kids and you’ll be a star.
Hm, now I’m thinking I should offer to do this for my kid’s 5th grade science class next year…
Dammit! Now I have to spend the afternoon looking up ice cream recipes and where I can get LN.
<shakes fist at posters> Curses!
Hmm, chili dark chocolate and sea salted caramel swirl…
Look for an industrial gas supply company (welding gas supply places often carry a wide assortment of this stuff). You can buy a dewar flask for around $100 (and up) on eBay or Amazon but you can probably rent one. If you rent one make sure it’s never been used for anything other than LN.
If you just want a little bit the suggestion of using a quality thermos bottle might work, a gas supply place or university physics department might be able to fill it up for you if you ask nicely.
liquid nitrogen is a hazard. you need to understand the safety precautions for storing and using it for yourself or anyone that comes in the area.
Don’t seal the container, don’t stick any body parts into it, and work in a well-ventilated area. Yes, it can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s not at all hard to be safe.