A sweet treat for a sweet day! Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary and actually the first time we have spent May 6th in Dallas since the day we got married! We love to take a trip over our anniversary! Tonight will look a little different, but still delicious! Ribeyes on the grill, twice baked potatoes, a glass (or two!) of red wine, the leftover brisket queso from yesterday’s Cinco de Mayo dinner, and finally, cookies and ice cream! I whipped this ice cream up in no time at all and it will be the perfect sweet treat to cap off tonight’s celebrations. I included some wedding photos below and it is very easy to see that our wedding revolved around food! I don’t think our guests went more than 30 minutes without eating! Starting off with our fabulous passed hors d'oeuvres (including mini crab cakes!), our three signature cocktails for our hour and a half cocktail hour (the Kentucky Derby ran in the middle of our cocktail hour so we had the country club set up a TV outside and served mint juleps during it too!). Leading to a seated dinner of salmon and beef tenderloin, my bride’s cake with vanilla and red velvet cake, my husband’s cookie bar with 2000 Oreos stacked with 15 dozen cookies and macaroons and spiked milk punch, a midnight snack of sliders and fries, and then donut holes in cinnamon and sugar to end the night on a sweet note! Clearly, our priorities have not changed—I would not have it any other way!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of whole milk

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened

• 1/2 tsp. espresso powder—it is just going to enhance and intensify the cocoa flavor!

• Optional spike: 1/8 cup of preferred bourbon or whiskey—this will also intensify the chocolate flavor

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 powder. Add your spirit spike here too! Stir until incorporated, it’ll take a second! You might have to whip out a whisk!

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes. This time is going to help the milk absorb all the cocoa powder you just threw at it!

5. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir or whisk.

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

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

8. Behold—your new favorite summer treat!