White Chocolate and Fresh Ginger Ice Cream

This recipe is from David Lebovitz. When I read it, I just couldn’t resist those flavors! While it may be impossible to make this lactose-free (even if you add lactase to the cream, chances are the white chocolate still has lactose), it was still worth it. The Engineer found it a little too rich, though, so it’s better to have it in small doses. And I’m not using the “chocolate” tag here, because to me, white chocolate isn’t really chocolate.

3-inch piece (2 to 2 ½ oz) fresh ginger, unpeeled
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 cup plus 1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces (230 g) white chocolate, finely chopped
5 large egg yolks

Slice the ginger thinly, cover it with water in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes. Drain away the water but return the blanched ginger to the pan. Add the sugar, the milk and 1 cup of heavy cream to the saucepan and re-warm the mixture.
Cover and steep for at least an hour, or until you are satisfied with the ginger flavor.



Put the chopped white chocolate in a large bowl.




In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the ginger-infused cream mixture, whisking constantly as you pour in the warm cream. Pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.



Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the white chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Discard the ginger. Add the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream and chill thoroughly. You can set the bowl over an ice bath to speed it up.



Chill mixture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Put it in a plastic container in the freezer to finish.