Raise your hand if you were obsessed with Serendipity’s Frozen Hot Chocolate growing up (both of my hands are in the air!). I am sure the nutritionist I saw as a child just cringed! I will never forget the first time I tried that magical dessert during one hot New York summer day. It was love at first bite—as it enabled me to have one of my favorite Christmas time beverages in the summer heat. I loved it so much that I asked to bring the pre-made packets back to Dallas so I could make them as I pleased. While good, they were just not the same, I could never get the consistency right. Fast forward to the following summer, my quest for ice cold hot chocolate was still red hot. After swimming in the pool, I decided that some ice cream was in order (see that nutritional training paid off!). Perhaps, I thought, maybe if I combined a pre-made hot chocolate packet into ice cream, I might have something similar.

I wish I could go back in time and give my younger self a pat on the back because that 13 year old girl was on to something! Throughout high school and college, the frozen hot chocolate inspiration evolved into hot chocolate ice cream. I would simply take a hot chocolate packet and combine it with a simple vanilla ice cream recipe—voila. As I have gotten older though, I have really wanted to nail this recipe down and make it my own, as it one of my favorite childhood creations. I am so happy to share this recipe with you, as it is years in the making, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Perhaps I should add to my resume: Savannah, virgo, gluten-full, and believer in year round hot chocolate consumption? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you say, “Yes!”, as my spoon was scraping the bottom of the bowl.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of whole milk

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1 tbsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened

• 1/4 tsp. espresso powder—it is just going to enhance and intensify the cocoa flavor!

• 1 cup of marshmallow bits, I used Kraft

Method:

1. Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and espresso and cocoa powders. Stir until incorporated, it’ll take a second! You might have to whip out a whisk!

   Side bar: you could put all of the above ingredients together into a saucepan and heat over the stove on a medium-low setting until cocoa powder is mixed in—just like you would make stovetop hot chocolate. If you want to do this, just pick back up on step 4. I just wanted to simplify this process and opted to stir in my cocoa sans heat.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Slowly add in marshmallows directly into ice cream mix with 5 minutes left to go.

8. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

9. Welcome to the hot chocolate ice cream fan club! I am the founder, manager, and janitor of the club!