You're Just 3 Ingredients Away From Rich And Creamy Chocolate Ice Cream

Who doesn't love swinging by the grocery store and grabbing a quick pint of ice cream as a little, well-earned treat? Whether you want to peruse popular vanilla ice cream brands or satisfy that sweet tooth with something a little more decadent (brownie batter, anyone?), there's a flavor out there for you. But what if you want to make your own batch of the frozen dessert? While it might seem like a lot of hard labor for little return, fortunately, there are plenty of ways you can make ice cream without a machine, and you don't even need a whole shopping cart full of ingredients to do it. In fact, all you need are three: cocoa powder, heavy whipping cream, and sweetened condensed milk.

You want to use about 2 cups of whipping cream and ½ cup of cocoa powder for every can of sweetened condensed milk, which will yield around 12 servings. It's best to whip your heaving whipping cream first and then combine your cocoa powder and sweetened condensed milk separately. Once your cream is whipped, you can fold and mix in the chocolatey condensed milk in small batches until you've combined all your ingredients into a cohesive ice cream base. Then, you just need to slap it in a container and pop it into the freezer — it's literally as easy as that. Three ingredients, just a few steps, and you've got yourself an entire serving of decadent, chocolatey ice cream to enjoy. That said, you'll definitely need a hand or stand mixer; the hardest part of this whole undertaking is whipping the heavy whipping cream into stiff peaks, which you need for your ice cream to have its airy texture instead of just freezing into a solid, icy block.

Since cocoa powder is the main thing giving this treat its chocolate taste, you want to make sure you're using high-quality ingredients. Natural cocoa powder works well for something more traditional, but you can also opt for regular Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This has a different chemical compound from regular natural cocoa powder, and it has a darker color and a more mellow taste comparatively. If you want an even richer color, black cocoa powder, like King Arthur Baking Company's Black Cocoa Powder, lives up to its name and provides a delectable and mild sweetness that's similar to the biscuit part of Oreos.

Finally, we have red cocoa powder, like Guittard's Cocoa Rouge. This alkalized cocoa has a rich and robust flavor that gives fudge-like notes of dense sweetness. It also imparts a unique ruddy color to anything you add it to, so if you're looking for a bit of intrigue with your next batch of chocolate ice cream, you've found it in this.

Go ahead and test out a few different powders. Soon enough, you'll find the exact right ingredients to make your favorite, easy go-to chocolate ice cream right in the comfort of your own kitchen.