Chocolate Brownie Chunk Soft Serve Ice Cream

I know the picture is deceiving, but this really is soft serve ice cream. I made my ice cream and stuck it in the freezer. Because it was in the freezer it did get harder. However, it didn't have the nice smooth creamy texture of an ice cream that is meant to freeze hard.  I should explain that my little ice cream maker is the kind that you put the bowl in the freezer all day and only makes a serving or two of ice cream at a time. This machine is specifically meant for making soft serve ice cream.  Since this recipe is perfect for my machine, I would imagine it would probably be a good recipe for the ice cream in a ziploc bag trick. (scroll down for instructions)

Chocolate Brownie Chunk Soft Serve Ice Cream

• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cups half & half
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup brownie chunks

Mix together sugar and cocoa powder.  Add tablespoon or two of half & half until smooth. Stir in remaining half & half and vanilla.  Keep mixture in the refrigerator until ice cream machine is ready. Pour ice cream mixture into machine. Let  machine run until mixture starts to get thick and then add brownie chunks. Continue to run machine until ice cream has thickened. Turn of the machine and let the ice cream sit a few more minutes and let thicken a little more.

Note: In my ice cream machine I can only fit about half of the ice cream mixture so I have to quickly  make it in two batches, before the bowl gets too warm to freezer the ice cream. It takes about 5 minutes for it get thick enough for the ice cream to get thick enough to add the brownie and another five minutes more for the ice cream to finish. When  I made my ice cream the bowl wasn't quite cold enough for the second batch and didn't freeze as well as the first. Next time I might try setting the ice cream maker in a bowl of ice to help it stay cold.

To make ice cream in a ziploc bag:

• 2 - 3 cups ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
• 1/3 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
• 1 pint-size ziplock bag
• 1 gallon-size ziplock bag

Pour about 1/2 cup ice cream mixture in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it's done.Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add 2 or 3 table spoons of brownie chunks, and enjoy!