Dark chocolate semifreddo

A semifreddo… Do you know what it is and why it's called that? Well, it's a frozen dessert, similar to ice cream, but due to the way it's prepared it doesn't produce the same cold sensation in the mouth, hence the very graphic name.

How do you make a semifreddo

What sets a semifreddo apart from ice cream is that more air is introduced into the mixture beforehand, whether with a meringue, with a sabayon, or by whipping the cream, there are even semifreddos that include these three components, quite the production.

For this reason, there’s no need to churn/whip it like ice cream (the many air bubbles limit the size of the ice crystals); you just freeze it directly, no fuss, and it always turns out well.

This dark chocolate semifreddo it only uses whipped cream as the leavening agent, so it is one of the simplest semi-frozen desserts we can make. But it won't let you down. Among other things, because it's very chocolatey…

Tokyo Design Textured Plate and Emile Henry dessert plates

Ingredients

• 285gr of 70 % cocoa chocolate
• 240ml of whole milk
• 5 egg yolks
• 100gr of sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 360ml heavy cream (minimum 35 % fat)
• Extra whipped cream for serving

Production

1. We line with plastic wrap a rectangular mold (the one from Birkmann is a good option). We booked.
2. Add the chopped chocolate in a large bowl (we will make the final mixture in it) and place a strainer on top. Set aside.
3. In a saucepan (if it has a pouring spout like this one it always helps to then transfer the contents) we add the yolks, the sugar, the salt, and the milk. We mix perfectly with some rods.
4. We put the saucepan over a very low heat and Heat, stirring constantly not even for a moment, so that the yolk doesn't set at any point. If we have probe thermometer it's easy to check the setting, which happens from 72°-73°. If we don't have it, we do it like our grandmothers: when the cream coats the back of a wooden spoon and leaves a line when you run your finger through it.
5. Note, What happens if our cream curdles? If we set it carefully it shouldn't happen, but if we have that bad luck we'll immediately add a splash of cold cream and whisk with a hand blender. It's not exactly the same, but it serves our purpose.
6. We immediately pour the thickened, hot cream over the strainer and the chocolate we had in the bowl. We help with a silicone spatula until all the cream passes through, pressing on the strainer and scraping the bottom.
7. Stir the cream with the chocolate until fully combined. Let cool to room temperature.
8. So we whip the cream, which should be very cold, until it forms soft peaks; it shouldn't be completely stiff because it's much harder to mix it with the chocolate cream.
9. Add the cream to the custard, never the other way around as the chocolate could solidify too quickly, and we mix with a spatula using gentle, folding motions, while working fairly quickly.
10. We pour the mixture into the mold prepared beforehand, we cover with more plastic and we put the mold in the freezer at least a whole night.
11. When we are going to serve the semifreddo, we unmold it onto a source and let it cool for 5 minutes. We can garnish the servings with some extra whipped cream.

Emile Henry dessert plates

Although it's not the most common, with this dark chocolate semifreddo you can also form ice cream scoops for place them on waffle cones or even make ice cream sandwiches with square wafers. Try all the methods and choose the one you like best…