Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Gelato For the Italian in You

Ciao (Hello)!

Gelato once you have taken a bite you know that heaven does really exist on earth. There is nothing quite like creamy ice cold gelato that is airy and light but is filled with flavor and coats your mouth just so and puts a smile on your face.

Italy holds a special place in my heart. Not only is it a beautiful country with so much history, rich with beautiful architecture, decadent food, and tons of quaint towns. It really is such a unique place. When I was young my Dad would listen to tapes to learn Italian. So I remember listening to it in the house. This has inspired me to learn Italian as well. Thanks to technology we can learn a language with dedication and practice with our phone. I use the app Duolingo and slowly but surely I am getting there.

Learning a new language is one of the best ways to keep our minds sharp. This is vital for our health. Learning something new and continuing to educate ourselves is wonderful for our mind and helps to stop the aging process in our brain. Of course what we eat depends greatly on the age and health of our brain, and the better we eat the better our brain health. Eating healthy fats like full fat milk and dark chocolate aid in this healthy brain and anti-aging foods.

Italy

The real reason Italy holds a special place in my heart is because I spent time living with a family in the city of Parma learning to cook and live like a local Italian. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Learning the local traditions and the beautiful gastronomy and culture was priceless. One of the best memories of the experience was of course cooking daily with Stefania, but specifically she would speak to me in English and Italian and when she would talk with me in Italian I would have to repeat what she said in English to let her know I understood.

One day we were in the kitchen sitting talking, and we had to go pick up her daughters from school and we rode bikes from the house to the center of town to pick them up at. She was talking to me in Italian and English while riding bikes and when we arrived to the back of the school with ancient buildings surrounding us the girls said they wanted gelato after school. So we walked across the way to the back of the duomo to the gelateria. I got a dark chocolate gelato and for some reason that memory is one that has a lot of meaning to me.

So to continually feel like an Italian making this easy decadent chocolate chocolate chunk gelato is a great summer refreshing treat.

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Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Gelato

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Whole Milk
• 3/4 cup Dark Chocolate Chips Melted
• 2 TBLS Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 cup Cane Sugar
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2/3 cup Dark Chocolate Chunks

Instructions

• 1. In a sauce pan heat the milk over low/medium heat until warm. Do not bring the milk to a boil. Turn the heat off. 
  

  2. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture changes color to a pale yellow and doubles in size. Add in small amounts while whisking the milk into the egg yolk sugar mixture. Once some of the warm milk has been incorporated. Then add the egg yolk, sugar, milk mixture back into the sauce pan and on the stove top over low/medium heat to cook the egg yolks. Using a wooden spoon mix this for a few minutes.

  3. In a bowl microwave proof melt the chocolate chips. Do this in 30 second intervals as to not burn the chocolate. Once melted add this, the vanilla extract, and the cocoa powder into the sauce pan and mix well. Keep stirring gently best with a spatula until the liquid is one consistent mixture. 

  4. Pour this into the pre-cooled ice cream maker and set the setting to gelato or semi-firm. Once the gelato has almost set add in the chocolate chunks and continue until the gelato has churned. 

  4. Place the gelato into a loaf pan or dish of your preference and place in the freezer for it to set for a few hours, but best over night. 

  Serve and enjoy!