Bad days are when you are running late for work and your car starts screaming at you because it’s almost out of fuel. So you have to stop and pump gas in the pouring rain and your hair goes from a state of kind of frizzy to - beyond being rectified.

You also spilled plaster all over somebody’s kitchen - no biggie.

When I was ten I thought I knew what bad days were like. I thought that my little brother biting the heads off of my Polly Pockets was the epitome of a horrible life. Since then the meaning of a “bad day” has significantly escalated.

There are very few solutions to the hangover which one feels after experiencing a truly bad day. Ice cream is one of them. Chocolate ice cream - I feel better already. Chocolate ice cream with pistachios and raspberries - hangover dissipated.

When I want chocolate ice cream, I want it thick. I want it “smack you in the face” chocolatey. And I want it to coat the inside of my mouth with gelid creaminess. Unfortunately, my stipulations are not met by most of the market-made ice creams. So I had to make my own.

This ice cream is thick. This ice cream smacks you in the face with it’s chocolatey-ness. This ice cream coats the inside of your mouth with creamy wonder. I need this, we need this.

In honor of all the grown-up bad days we have.

Ice cream.

Happy Weekending.

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

Chocolate Ice Cream

recipe adapted from Alton Brown / makes 1 1/2 quarts

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups half and half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Toppings (optional, but totally not optional)

-pistachios

-fresh raspberries

-sea salt

In a medium saucepan combine cocoa powder with 1 cup half and half and place over medium heat, whisking to combine. Add remaining half and half and heavy cream. Stir often, until mixture reaches a simmer and remove from heat.

In a mixing bowl whisk eggs yolks until they begin to lighten in color. Gradually add sugar - whisking to combine.

Temper the cream mixture into the eggs by ladling small amounts until 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added. Pour the tempered eggs into the remaining cream mixture and place the saucepan over low heat.

Cook, stirring frequently, until the custard thickens and reaches 170-175 degrees F.

Allow custard to cool to room temperature before adding vanilla extract.

Refrigerate overnight and pour into an ice cream maker, following the manufacturer’s directions.

Enjoy!