Recipe: Orange choc chip ice cream

A refined take on a Kiwi classic – and you don’t even need an ice cream machine.

Ice cream making is a lovely process and really a very simple one too. The bonus is that once you’ve mastered the art of it you can then let the imagination run wild and flavour your ice cream with all manner of ingredients from fresh ginger to basil. Here I’ve infused cream with orange zest and added chopped chocolate to replicate the good old Kiwi favourite, orange choc chip. I hope you like it as much as we do! 

ORANGE CHOC CHIP ICE CREAM

Serves 10

• 400ml cream
• 3 oranges
• 250ml milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 115g sugar
• 75g dark chocolate, chopped (I used Whittaker’s 72% cocoa chocolate)

Put the cream into a jar. Using a vegetable peeler, peel long strips of zest from the oranges until you’ve removed it all. Add to zest strips to the jar, screw on the lid and refrigerate for at least eight hours or overnight. Shake the jar every so often. 

After this period, heat the milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium-high heat until about to boil. Remove from the heat.

While the milk is heating, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy. While still whisking, pour in the hot milk in a slow, steady stream until all combined. Pour back into the saucepan and over a low heat, cook the custard until the foam disappears and it becomes thick and silky.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. If at this stage the mixture splits you can whisk it back together and continue on with the recipe. 

Set a sieve over a large bowl and pour the cream mixture through it to remove the orange zest. Discard the zest.

Whip the orange-infused cream until soft peaks form then fold into the custard mixture, before lastly folding through the chopped chocolate. Pour into a loaf tin and place in the freezer overnight. Remove the ice cream from the freezer 10 minutes before serving to allow it to soften.