This creamy homemade chocolate gelato is made with 5 ingredients and will be the creamiest homemade gelato you have every made. If you don't like chocolate, no worries, you can swap out the cocoa in this recipe for a 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and make a creamy vanilla homemade gelato.
And, it doesn't stop there. There are so many other different flavors of gelato like: pistachio, strawberry, nocciolo, torrone, panna cotta, etc., etc..
so what's the difference between gelato and ice cream?
The basic difference is milk!
Gelato is made using whole milk. Whereas ice cream is made with full fat cream or a combination of milk and cream. But more cream. Hence the word “ice cream”.
Gelato originates from Italy, and is made using milk or at least the “new” gelato is made from Milk. Although, the first signs of gelato originated from China where they used rice, milk and even snow to make it. Gelato is lighter in texture than ice cream. And because it doesn’t use cream, it will obviously have less fat.
If you are looking to make ice cream, click here to get my recipe details for homemade raspberry white chocolate ice cream here.
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tips and tricks to making homemade gelato
a secret ingredient to making the perfect scoop-able homemade gelato
If you are reading this section, you have probably made ice-cream before and been disappointed because the ice-cream is so hard you can't scoop it out. Today, I'm going to share with you a secret ingredient that is going to change the way you think about making homemade ice-cream or gelato and get you excited to make your favorite flavor of gelato.
The secret ingredient you ask? Corn syrup and corn starch! Yup! The corn syrup and corn starch in this homemade chocolate gelato helps to reduce crystallization in the gelato making process. The leads to a much smoother and scoop-able gelato. And, if you're worried about using corn syrup because it's unnatural, then maybe you should re-think making desserts all together.
The pros use corn syrup in their desserts, why shouldn't you?
ice-cream makers
I use a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker, like the one here. I'm not a pro by any means. It took me a while to figure out and test recipes that I liked. I highly recommend reading the manufacturer's instructions and testing out a couple of manufacturer's recipes. Then adjust them to suit your style.
One grudge I had about my ice cream maker, was the fact that a lot of my homemade ice cream, once done, would be stuck to the walls of the ice cream maker. And, it was frozen solid on the walls and difficult to scrape from the sides. Recently, I decided to reduce the number of hours that the ice-cream basin prepped in the freezer. Up until now I would leave ice cream bowl in the freezer for at least 24 hours and sometimes continuously.
But this time, I left the ice cream bowl in the freezer for 10 hours before I poured the gelato mixture into it and turned the machine on. Placing the freezer bowl in the freezer for 10 hours and then using it was just enough time to make the perfect ice cream that didn't stick against the sides of the ice cream bowl.
For the first time, I could scrape the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and actually place the creamy homemade chocolate gelato contents into a container without scratching the bowl. My point? If the manufacturer's instructions aren't working for you, google your product to see how other's are adjusting their steps to making the perfect ice cream.
turning a basic gelato into an extraordinary flavor
The flavors for homemade gelato are literally endless. I've found that regardless of what flavor concoction you come up with, the perfect gelato starts with either a vanilla base or a chocolate base. You can add additional flavors in the gelato that will go into the ice cream basin.
But, and here is another tip, hold yourself back from putting chocolate chips, frozen berries or anything chunky into the ice-cream basin. If you do this, you may risk breaking the mixing arm. Instead, once the ice-cream is done, you can layer those ingredients as you are pouring the ice-cream into it's storage container.
preparation and storage options
Most homemade gelato recipes have few ingredients that you have to blend together before you need to pour the mixture into the ice-cream maker. But, don't be deceived. Regardless of how many ingredients to preparation is involved, you should always be prepared with the proper container that you'll need to store the ice-cream.
As soon as the gelato is ready, place it in the storage container and freeze it immediately for at least 6 hours. Make sure that you are choosing a container that is large enough to hold your gelato securely and is freezer safe.
Please leave me a comment and tell me all about your flavor combinations for homemade gelato and what worked for you.
Make this creamy homemade chocolate gelato now or PIN it for later.
Recipe Details
Homemade Chocolate Gelato
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2 tbsp corn syrup
- 1 ½ tbsp corn starch
- ⅔ cups sugar
- ⅔ cups cocoa powder
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients together with a whisk.
- Pour the milk in to the dry ingredients and stir. Add the corn syrup.
- Turn the ice cream maker on and pour the mixture in to the ice cream basin. Churn for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the mixture is almost frozen and has a thick the appearance or follow the manufacturer's instructions.
- Pour the mixture into a freezer safe storage container and freeze immediately.
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