It’s no secret that my ice cream maker gets a serious workout. I think it’s safe to say that I make ice cream almost every week. It’s the perfect dessert to make when friends pop by because it’s so fast and simple and there are so many variations that require so few ingredients. (Confession: I always have heavy whipping cream in my house. Always.) But for Heaven’s sake, don’t bother with a recipe that involves the stove. Honestly, who can be bothered? All that waiting and cooling? It’s completely unnecessary.

I’ve had a recent love affair with using mascarpone in ice cream, but most of the time I use cream, milk, sugar, and a flavoring. Four ingredients! I also love using cocoa powder for chocolate ice cream because it has such an intense chocolate flavor.

Last night I had already mixed together milk and heavy whipping cream when I realized that I was almost out of sugar. For the first time ever, I decided to use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. That inspired me to throw in sea salt for contrast. I often use cinnamon in chocolate ice cream, but I toned it down a little in this recipe so as to not compete with the other flavors.

This recipe is easily doubled if you want to keep a pint in the freezer.

Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Sea Salt Ice Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon to taste
sea salt to taste (several shakes)

Whisk together all ingredients. (Be patient when adding the cocoa powder.) Pour in ice cream maker. Churn for 20-30 minutes. Dive right in if you love soft-serve ice cream. Otherwise transfer to freezer-safe containers and freeze for at least an hour to firm up. Enjoy!

Happy baking,

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