Stracciatella Ice Cream
Andrea Potischman
Jun 24, 2019
At my kid’s suggestion, I kicked off summer this year with a new Cuisinart ice cream machine. Seriously, best decision ever made. The motivation; is our family trip to Copenhagen last Spring. The food scene in this charming little city is truly amazing. From fine dining to street food, the Danes are absolutely killing it.
While visiting Copenhagen, my younger son (who is a true sweetaholic), could not get enough of their delicious local artisanal ice cream. Luckily for him, we were staying near one of Copenhagen’s most loved and well-known ice cream parlors, Vaffelbageren which opened daily on the early side. Grabbing a freshly made waffle cone topped with a few scoops of ice cream quickly became a routine as we set out to explore for the day.
My son is somewhat chocolate-obsessed, and his love affair with classic chocolate ice cream has always been strong. But the tide changed a bit in Copenhagen when he tried Stracciatella for the very first time. For those unfamiliar, Stracciatella is similar to chocolate chip ice cream–but it is by no means the same. The base is rich, creamy, and indulgent and the bittersweet chocolate flakes are so delicate that they dissolve in your mouth almost instantly making this flavor so distinct.
Stracciatella translates to “rags” or “shards“, which are woven into a flavorful vanilla custard-like ice cream in a slightly untraditional way. Unlike American chocolate chip ice cream, Stracciatella is made by drizzling a fine stream of melted chocolate directly into the churning vanilla custard. As a result, the chocolate solidifies on contact, freezing it into delicate flakes that fuse with the ice cream and literally melt in your mouth instantly upon eating. My son was hooked and so was I.
It is said Scratchatella originated in Bergamo, in Northern Italy, at the Ristorante La Marianna in the early 1960’s. Stracciatella ice cream was actually inspired by Stracciatella soup, an Italian version of egg drop soup which is a popular dish throughout Rome. To this day Stracciatella remains one of the most renowned Italian gelato flavors in the world.
Stracciatella was the first of several ice creams I made on my new machine and it did not disappoint. With its decadent base and its delicate crunchy chocolate texture, I had successfully recreated the ultimate indulgence from our vacation so worthy you could justify having it for breakfast, at least if you asked my son that is.
A Note on Gelato and Ice cream
“Gelato” is the Italian word for “ice cream”. Although it starts out with a similar custard base as ice cream, gelato has a higher proportion of milk and a lower proportion of cream and eggs (sometimes having no eggs at all). Gelato is churned at a much slower rate than ice cream which incorporates less air and leaves the gelato denser than ice cream. Gelato is served at a slightly warmer temperature than ice cream giving it a silkier, softer texture.
Stracciatella Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup organic light corn syrup
- 1 whole vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped
- 6 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- Dash of salt
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan add the heavy cream, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla bean (pods and seeds). Place over a low heat and bring to a simmer while whisking often. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl add the egg yolks and sugar, and whisk until pale yellow in color. Gradually whisk in the hot cream mixture, in a slow steady stream. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, over a low flame until a thick custard forms and a thermometer registers 170-175 degrees F, about 5 minutes. Remove the custard from the heat and strain in a fine strainer into a clean mixing bowl. Place in the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least 2 hours.
- Once the custard has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and process the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the consistency of the ice cream is similar to soft-serve, melt the chocolate, add the salt, and pour very slowly into the ice cream while it's churning. Note: the easiest way to do this is to place the melted chocolate in a quart-size plastic bag and make a small cut on one corner. When the melted chocolate hits the cold ice cream it will solidify into small pieces. Continue freezing the ice cream until it's completely solid, about 20-25 minutes more depending on your machine.
- Place the ice cream into a freezer-friendly container and freeze for at least 2 hours
Can I leave out the corn syrup? We cook only with fresh organic ingredients, and corn syrup doesn’t work for that 🙂 Wondering about substitutions or implications of not using it.
thanks@!
Hello. Thanks for reading my blog and for reaching out. Corn syrup is often used in ice cream recipes to help bind the water prevent it from freezing and to inhibit sugar crystals from forming. That said, you can consider trying alternatives. Honey is the most obvious as it has a similar consistency but is sweeter and has a distinct flavor so using a milder one would be preferable. I assume a liquid sugar, brown rice syrup, golden syrup, or even agave could all be used. I have not used any of these in making this recipe so I can’t tell you what the exact outcome will be and if one would be the perfect replacement, that said, it would be worth experimenting. If you try this, do reach back out and let me know your results, I am now very curious.
I found your site as I searched recipes for Spinach Stromboli…and yes, I’ll be following your instructions next week as I prepare party food. So I am perusing your site and love it! This recipe for Stracciatella Ice Cream is beautiful. But I do have one little hint for you regarding the melted chocolate…have you tried adding a little refined coconut oil to the melted chocolate? Because of it’s low melting point (it melts on the tongue), coconut oil keeps those chocolate shreds in your ice cream from being too hard as they melt in your mouth. Now as you enjoy that luxuriously creamy treat, those “chips” will become like chocolate silk. For this recipe here, probably 2-3 Tbsp coconut oil will do the trick. You probably know that refined coconut oil doesn’t taste like coconut, hence, that’s the right choice here, as opposed to unrefined. Again, Love your website! I’m going to subscribe!
Thanks for your comment and your lovely compliment. Great tip re: the recipe. I was passing this off a place I had it at in Copenhagen, so I did not sue that trick in this recipe, but I agree it’s a great tip so I appreciate you mentioning it. Be well, stay safe and keep on cooking.
It’s 3:00 A.M. in NYC and I am up! What better time than to check emails…and there it is! You bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker and I am a goner. I’ve read it all including the Grand Marnier soufflé! It’s as good a read as “Gone with the Wind.” As I have told you, l love reading your background information and, especially, stories of my son (for example, his love of pie for breakfast – who knew!) and my grandsons (oh, the places they’ve been; the things they eat; breadth of their palates and the exposure you’ve given them from your own kitchen to Copenhagen, Iceland and other stops along the way). If I were ever to cook anything again, I would have only Simmer+Sauce print outs on my kitchen shelf. You are amazing.
Thanks Roz, you are too kind 🙂
Great post and recipe.
Thank you love!