I love crunching through the dark (bittersweet) chocolate coating to reveal the creamy, almond ice cream.
Makes 8–10 large lollies or 40 petit fours.
Note: You will need an ice cream machine and lolly moulds and sticks.
For the almond milk ice cream:
500ml (16fl oz / 2 cups) milk
60g (2oz / generous ¼ cup) lightly roasted almonds
200ml (7fl oz/generous ¾ cup) double (heavy) cream
125g (4½oz / generous ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
120g (4oz) egg yolks (about 6 eggs)
For the dipping & decoration:
300g (10oz) fine dark (bittersweet) chocolate (63% cocoa solids), chopped
150g (5½oz) cocoa butter, chopped
35g (generous 1oz) roasted almonds, finely chopped
Put the milk in a saucepan and bring to a light boil. Add the almonds and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor or blender and blitz to a paste. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve (strainer) and transfer it to a clean saucepan. Add the cream and 100g (3½ oz / scant ½ cup) of the sugar and bring to the boil.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar together in a mixing bowl until light in colour, about 2–3 minutes. Pour half of the boiled milk over the egg yolk mixture and whisk until fully mixed. Transfer this mixture back to the milk in the saucepan and cook over a gentle heat, stirring continuously, until it reaches 84–86C (183–187F) – the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat and pass through a fine sieve (strainer). Cool rapidly, ideally over an ice bain-marie (water bath). Pour into a container and chill overnight to allow the custard to improve in flavour. Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine following the manufacturer's instructions.
Spoon the churned ice cream into the lolly moulds. Freeze for about 1 hour. Take out of the freezer and place a lolly stick into the centre of each mould. Return to the freezer overnight. To make the dipping chocolate, melt the chocolate and cocoa butter over a bain-marie (water bath) to 45C (113F), then leave to cool to 35C (95F). Demould the lollies, dip them into the chocolate and sprinkle with the chopped almonds. Return to the freezer again to fully set.
• This recipe is taken from Couture Chocolate: A Masterclass in Chocolate by William Curley (Jacqui Small, £30). Buy a copy for £24 from the Guardian bookshop
