Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
Makes about 1 quart

This recipe is fairly simple, but read it carefully as you go.  The first time I made it, I followed it to the letter.  The second time, I had too many things going on in my kitchen and I forgot to add the milk to the custard.  Somehow, it still ended up being delicious.  Believe it or not, Costco is a great place to buy vanilla beans – they are incredibly affordable and very high quality.

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (not chocolate chips), chopped

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well.  Cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.  Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens an coast the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream.  Put the vanilla bean into the custard, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.  When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a measuring cup in the microwave in 30-second intervals.  Remove from the microwave while there are still small chunks, the residual heat will melt those.  Right before you are ready to turn off the ice cream maker, carefully pour the warm chocolate in through the spout, avoiding the beater blade as best you can.  Turn off the machine and scrape any chocolate that has collected on the blade back into the bowl.  Either serve or scrape into a container and place in the freezer.