Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream

1. Stage

Heat the cocoa powder in 1 cup cream, stir in chocolate: Heat one cup of cream in a small saucepan (1 qt). Whisk in cocoa powder. Bring to a simmer. Whisk until cocoa powder is well incorporated. Remove pot from heat. Stir in chocolate until it is completely incorporated.

2. Stage

Place into a bowl, add remaining cream, chill over ice water: Put mixture into a metal bowl and add the remaining cup of cream. Set that bowl over a larger bowl half-filled with ice water to help cool it down. Place a mesh sieve over the bowl with the chocolate mixture.

3. Stage

Heat the milk, sugar, spices until steamy: Put one cup of milk, the sugar, cinnamon, salt, cayenne, espresso powder (or instant coffee) into a saucepan and heat until steamy (not boiling), stirring to incorporate the spices and dissolve the sugar.

4. Stage

Temper the eggs with hot mixture, return to pan: Place egg yolks in a medium sized bowl. Slowly pour the heated milk and mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the heated milk, but not cooked by it. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

5. Stage

Stir until custard base thickens: Stir the milk egg mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes, depending on how hot your burner is.

6. Stage

Remove from the heat and immediately pour it over the mesh sieve into chocolate cream mixture: (The sieve is there to catch any curdled bits.) Immediately, stir into the cream mixture. If the custard base doesn't coat the back of the spoon, it's not ready.

7. Stage

Add the vanilla and chill: Add a teaspoon of vanilla. Let the mixture cool a bit in the ice bath and then chill in the refrigerator until completely chilled, a couple hours or overnight.

8. Stage

Add the brandy (optional): Right before churning, add 2 tablespoons of brandy to the mix. This is an optional step, but it will help keep the ice cream from getting too icy if it is stored for more than a day. If you are planning on eating the ice cream the same day you make it, you can skip this step.

9. Stage

Process in ice cream maker: Churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10. Stage

Freeze: Store ice cream in an airtight container in your freezer for several hours before eating. The ice cream will be quite soft coming out of the ice cream maker but will continue to harden in your freezer. If you store it for more than a day, you may need to let it sit for a few minutes to soften before attempting to scoop it.