Aztec Chocolate Ice Cream combines chocolate and cinnamon with a bite from red chile flakes. A sweet lime glaze tops off this creamy dessert and it's the perfect end to any Mexican or Southwestern meal. Make the churning of the ice cream part of the event and it's one less thing for the host to do.

Scoops of Aztec Chocolate Ice Cream with lime glaze.

Homemade ice cream is a fun, easy family kind of dessert that's perfect for casual entertaining. Of course you can buy excellent ice cream free from every allergen including dairy. There are even many exciting flavours to choose from but sometimes the whole point is to make something from scratch. Just because you can.

Instructions for Custard Based Ice Cream

A custard base contributes to the velvety smooth decadence of this chocolate ice cream. To make custard you simply heat egg yolks, cream and sugar, how hard can it be?

The technique is to stir the mixture until it thickens then remove it from the heat before the yolks scramble. Recipes often say, “stir with a wooden spoon until your finger drawn across the back of the spoon leaves a line.” Okay, I can do that. Then, like any normal person trying to figure out what that means I stand there stirring, swiping my finger across the spoon and wondering if that’s good enough. Is that a line or should it be more of a line?

You just need to make a custard based ice cream to know what I mean. My instructions say to pour the custard mixture into the chocolate through a strainer. I do this in case there are a few lumps on the bottom of the warm egg mixture and there always is. If you don't have that problem then you don't have to do that step.

Get The Tools

You only need an ice cream maker and a scoop. Buy yourself a good quality electric ice cream maker or the hand crank style Donvier ice cream maker. The hand crank one has no moving parts and I've had mine for more than twenty years. No matter what you buy keep the metal insert in my freezer and you're ready to make ice cream any time. My sister has the exact same ice cream maker so for large gatherings we double the recipe and use them both.

An ice cream maker is a perfect gift for any ice cream lover or maybe someone new to the gluten free diet. Making ice cream, trying new recipes and finding your favourites is always a fun project. For families who like challenges try a new recipe every month and let me know how it went.

In the comments below I'd love to hear any story you have about homemade ice cream.