Chocolate–hazelnut ice cream in brioche

By: Sarah Coates
From: The Sugar Hit!
Makes: 1 litre ice cream
Photographer: Chris Middleton

Thanks to Nigella Lawson, through two of her awesome books (Forever Summer and Nigellissima), I have learned that this is how they eat their ice cream in the South of Italy – stuffed into a brioche bun, like an ice cream burger. Chocolate–hazelnut spread is actually an Italian ingredient, based on the classic gianduja paste, which originated in Piemonte. In this glorious midnight-munch, the north and the south finally come together. I try to channel a Sophia Loren-type 1960s Italian babe whenever I eat these, with winged eye-liner and big hair. But I’m going to be honest, that’s mostly in my imagination. The reality is much stickier.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient

Chocolate–hazelnut ice cream

Quantity	Ingredient
45g	cream cheese
pinch	salt
190g	caster sugar
60g	unsweetened cocoa powder
310g	chocolate–hazelnut spread
500ml	full-cream milk
1 1/2 tablespoons	cornflour, (cornstarch)
250ml	thickened cream, (35% fat)
2 tablespoons	liquid glucose, (or corn syrup)

To serve

Quantity	Ingredient
8	store-bought brioche buns, halved
	chopped hazelnuts

Method

Put the cream cheese and salt in a large bowl.
In a small saucepan over medium–high heat, combine 125 ml water, 75 g of the sugar and the cocoa, bring to the boil and cook for 30 seconds.
Whisk the hot cocoa mixture into the cream cheese slowly, bit by bit, making sure there are no lumps. Add the chocolate–hazelnut spread, stir everything well to combine, then set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornflour and set aside.
Put the remaining milk, the cream, remaining sugar and the glucose in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat, letting it boil for 4 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat, whisk in the cornflour mixture, then return the pan to the heat for a minute or until thickened slightly.
Stir the milk mixture into the chocolate–hazelnut mixture and put in the refrigerator to chill completely, for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Churn in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Pack into a freezer-safe container, cover with baking paper and store in the freezer.
To serve, put a scoop of ice cream in the bottom of a soft brioche bun, scatter over chopped hazelnuts, top with the other half of the brioche bun and devour.