Have a heavy saucepan, a large bowl, and a fine mesh strainer to hand.

Break up the chocolate into pieces and put it in a microwave-safe two-cup measure. Place this in the microwave oven for ten second bursts, stirring with a wooden spoon each time, until the chocolate is melted. Watch your microwave oven closely to avoid spattering. Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the chocolate extract and liquor. The mixture may separate. That’s okay.

Place egg yolks and sugar in medium heavy saucepan. Off heat, whisk together to blend. Add the cream and either whisk or blend with wooden spoon.

Place cream over medium low heat and stir constantly, until you have what David calls “a thin custard.” This took me about seven minutes. You are better off tending toward lower heat. If at any time you fear the custard is breaking, put it in a sinkful of cold water and stir.

Once the mixture is blended, take it off the heat a moment.

If the chocolate has hardened at all, give it 5-8 seconds in the microwave to warm it up.

Place custard over lowest possible heat. Slowly pour chocolate mixture and cocoa, if using, into cream, stirring with a wooden spoon (my preference) or whisking. It might seem they won’t blend, but keep stirring or whisking and all will be well.

When the custard and chocolate are blended, pour through the strainer into the bowl. Allow to cool, cover, and chill in the refrigerator, 4 hours-overnight.

Once the mixture has chilled, either pour it into freezer-safe bowls or containers or into your ice cream machine.

Be sure to have sturdy, freeze-proof spoons and/or spatulas on hand. This sounds obvious, but I can’t tell you how often I’ve found myself reaching for a utensil mid-pour only to come up empty-handed. Needless to say, ice cream has a tendency to melt. Ice cream maker inserts, on the other hand, remain ice cold for hours, and are velcro-like in their ability to adhere to sponges, dish towels, and skin.

I store my ice cream in freezer-proof china cups (they photograph nicely) and plastic yogurt containers, which have handy lids.

Home-made ice cream has a short shelf life; keeping for about two weeks. Mine never lasts that long.

Notes:

The possible additions are endless: fruits, nuts, chocolate chips, liqueurs, ad infinitum.

I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker. It cost $50 a few years ago and works well. This is not a sponsored post.