Chocolate Chilli Ice Cream

By request ;-)

310g bittersweet chocolate (best quality you can afford)*
2-3 dried chillies (to taste obviously. More chillies = more heat)
2 cups full fat cream
1 cup milk
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Kahlua
1/2 teaspoon crumbled, dried chillies (optional)
1/2 cup blanched almonds, toasted, cooled and chopped (optional)

*You can use a bit of sweetened dark chocolate if you wish as part of this amount

In a metal bowl (or double boiler) set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring until smooth. (The original recipe uses 170g of melted chocolate and chops the remainder which is then added to the ice cream during the freezing process. Up to you to do what you prefer). Remove bowl from heat.

In a heavy saucepan, combine cream & milk. Put the dried chillies in a small muslin/cheesecloth "bag" like you would make for a bouquet garni and add to the milk. Bring mixture just to the boiling point while stirring but don't let it boil. The chillies in the bag add the chilli zing to the ice cream and will release more heat if you occasionally give it a squeeze as you stir. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar. Add yolk/sugar mixture to the milk mixture in a steady stream while whisking.

Return to the heat and cook this custard over a low heat, stirring until it thickens (or reaches 76 degrees C on a thermometer).

Strain if necessary through a fine sieve into a holding bowl and whisk in the melted chocolate, cinnamon and Kahlua. Let the mixture cool completely. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. If you haven't got an ice cream maker (like me), freeze in a container for 2 hours, take out and beat, then return to freezer for 2-3 hours, take out and beat, return to freezer. Add the remaining chocolate if you saved for this purpose, crumbled chillies and almonds during the last beating.

Good for serving to unsuspecting people. Looks like chocolate ice cream, tastes like chocolate ice cream but whoa! Has a surprising kick at the end of the mouthful!

If you like chocolate chilli, try Schoc's offering. Delicious. You can experience what Armande Voizin did in Chocolat by Joanne Harris! ;-)

Edited to add: For an eggless version you can do the following...
355g choc
3 cups cream
1/3 cup castor sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons Kahlua
1/2 teaspoon crumbled, dried chillies
1/2 cup blanched almonds, toasted, cooled and chopped (optional)

Melt the chocolate as above. Add the crumbled dried chillies, sugar, cinnamon (and almonds if included) and stir so the sugar dissolves. Whip the cream until stiff and fold in the chocolate mixture and the Kahlua. Freeze as above. Because you need to whip the cream you can't heat it and infuse it with chillies, so adding the crumbled chillies is necessary.