By Sarah Lagrotteria

I made this for dessert Saturday night.

Mexican hot chocolate ice cream with a  puddle of bittersweet chocolate sauce, toasted almonds and flakes of sea salt…barely sweet with a cinnamon kick…rich and velvety…crunchy… salty.

I couldn’t find the Ibarra chocolate called for in the recipe so I followed the alternative directions, using 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, plus 1/2 cup granulated sugar.  I beat the sugar in with the egg yolks (beginning of step 2) and stirred the chocolate into the custard after all the liquid had been incorporated into the egg mixture (end of step 2).

The recipe is from NorCal chef Maria Helm Sinskey’s The Vineyard Kitchen.  Formerly the exec chef at SF’s PlumpJack Cafe, Sinskey is the wife of indie vintner Robert Sinskey and runs the vineyard’s culinary center.  I haven’t tried her other recipes but if this ice cream is any indication, oh my god…..

I added freshly whipped cream as well.  The coupes are from Anthropologie circa 2002.  Now they have these.

xoxosl