Bringing the Piazza to D.C.: Kahlúa Fudge Swirl
I was sad to see the Piazza in Keene closed, as that little corner ice cream shop was a huge part of my childhood. It may sound strange to call an ice cream parlor a huge part of your childhood, but from the time Piazza opened its window in the spring until the time they closed in the fall, I was there nearly every single day. Cumulatively, I’ve probably spent a week of my life in that ice cream line, and it was worth every minute.
Much of that time was with my grandparents, with whom I spent much of my time in the summers. They would bring me after Roots and Wings let out, after a day of swimming in their pool, before my uncle’s softball games, after school with my friend Michaela (who loved strawberry ice cream with rainbow sprinkles). Sometimes we ate ice cream for lunch. Heck, we probably would have gone for breakfast if it was open that early. I have very fond memories of summertime with my grandparents, and those memories are full of ice cream.
I went through many phases of “favorites” at the Piazza. For a while I loved the soft serve with the colorful flavor swirls, and then when they introduced the soft serve base with the mix-ins I went through a blueberry phase and a Heath bar phase. I think I finally settled on black raspberry chocolate chip. My grandmother loves ice cream as much as I do, but she was much more consistent in her preferences. If they had it, she would always get Kahlúa Fudge Swirl in a cake cone. So when I found out she was coming down on the train for the week, I knew I had to make her a homemade batch!
This was the inaugural batch of ice cream in my new ice cream maker, which I have fallen for rather quickly. No salt, no ice, all you have to do is pre-freeze the bowl and go! This could be dangerous. I did make one rookie mistake, which was to only chill the ingredients to room temperature. You want them fully chilled, and in the subsequent batch I’ve already made (stay tuned!), I chilled the ingredients overnight. This will make the ice cream freeze faster as you churn, which reduces the size of the ice crystals creating a silkier consistency. As you can see, the Kahlúa Fudge swirl was a little on the icy side and a little bit soft, but it was rich and the flavor was spot on. And Grammy loved it, which was all that really mattered!
Kahlúa Fudge Swirl Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 3 cup heavy cream
- 1 ½ cup whole milk
- 1 cup Kahlúa
- 1 ½ cup of your favorite fudge sauce*
*I made my own by combining high quality cocoa powder, maple syrup and Kahlúa! I couldn’t tell you the exact amounts of each, but I think it was about 1 part cocoa, 1 part syrup and 2 tbsp Kahlúa. You will know when you have the right “fudge sauce” consistency!
How-to:
- Whisk the egg yokes, sugar, cream and milk together in a sauce pan.
- Heat over medium until it reaches 160 degrees and remove from heat. Kahlúa
- Refrigerate the mixture until completely chilled.
- Churn the ice cream following the instructions for your ice cream machine. This will likely take 25-30 minutes.
- When the ice cream starts to stiffen, remove the bowl and stir in the chocolate sauce.
- Cover and transfer to the freezer immediately to harden for several hours, or overnight. (I freeze the ice cream right in the bowl to cut down on dirty dishes, but you can also transfer to another container. The key is getting it in the freezer quickly).
