German Chocolate Ice Cream

All the flavors of a German chocolate cake frosting churned into ice cream. Sweet chocolate, shredded coconut, and chopped pecans in a rich custard base with a whisper of cinnamon that ties everything together.

This is a cooked custard, not a dump-and-churn recipe. You build a base on the stove by thickening milk with flour and sugar, then tempering beaten eggs into the hot mixture. That tempering step (blending a small amount of the hot liquid into the eggs first, then adding it all back) keeps you from making sweet scrambled eggs.

The coconut goes in while the custard is still warm so it softens and hydrates. The pecans get stirred in after chilling so they stay crunchy in the finished ice cream. That timing difference is what gives you both creamy and crunchy in every scoop.

Pro Tips

• Do not let the custard boil after adding the eggs. Boiling curdles the eggs and you’ll get a grainy texture no amount of churning will fix.
• Melt the chocolate completely before adding it to the custard. Chunks of unmelted chocolate seize up in the hot milk mixture.
• Chill the custard base thoroughly before churning. Warm base won’t freeze properly and produces icy crystals instead of smooth cream.
• Use German’s sweet baking chocolate, not semisweet or bittersweet. German’s chocolate is sweeter and milder, which is what defines this flavor.

Variations

• Toast the coconut and pecans before adding for a deeper, nuttier flavor throughout.
• Swirl in caramel sauce during the last minute of churning for a German chocolate turtle ice cream.
• Skip the churn and pour the chilled base into popsicle molds for German chocolate ice pops.