Mont Blanc ice cream

A bowl of chestnut ice cream with chocolate sauce

I was thrilled to do an Instagram Live with the ultimate chocolate expert Jennifer Earle. I made Jennifer my take on the French Italian mid 19th century dessert swapping the classic meringue for an ice cream format. This recipe is taken from Nina St Tropez cookbook.

For the chestnut ice cream:

• 125 ml double cream

• 500ml whole milk

• 85ml honey

• 80 g egg yolks (4-5 eggs)

• 90g caster sugar

• 125g chestnut puree

For the whipped cream:

• 200ml whipping cream

• 1 tbsp icing sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate sauce:

• 200ml whipping/double cream

• 70g caster sugar

• 110g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

• 10g soft, diced unsalted butter

• 1 tsp amaretto liquor (optional)

Almond flakes to finish

For the ice cream, add cream, milk and honey into a saucepan and gently warm to combine and mix together. In a large bowl add the yolk and sugar. Whisk until pale, (2 mins).

Whisk in the chestnut puree, Slowly trickle in the milk honey mix to the yolks whisking all the time to avoid any curdling. Continue adding a little at a time until all is incorporated. Add the chestnut base back into the saucepan and on medium to high heat.

Start whisking and use a cooking thermometer to check until it reaches 82 C degrees. At this point keep whisking for 30 seconds more and the mix should have thickened, It’s ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and pour into a container.

Cover with clean film so it covers the base and leave to cool completely. Place into an ice cream machine or into the freezer and whisk at 30 min intervals.

Add the ingredients for the whipped cream together into a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy.

For the chocolate sauce, add the cream and sugar together into a saucepan and set to medium heat and stir. Place the chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. When the sugar has melted pour the cream sugar mix over the chocolate and leave for 30 seconds before stirring together until all is melted. Then stir in the butter and Amaretto if using.