Gianduja (Hazelnut-Chocolate) Gelato

I'm a terrible person. I used my brother's wisdom tooth extraction as an excuse to make ice cream. But hey, can you really blame me? A new ice cream maker, a book full of recipes...

What's a girl to do?

Gianduja Gelato (adapted from The Perfect Scoop)

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups hazelnuts

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

That's my friend in the background. 

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

4 ounces high-quality milk chocolate, finely chopped

5 large egg yolks

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup throughly chilled Aunt Mona's Fudge Sauce (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread hazelnuts in even layer on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until insides are golden brown, stirring once or twice during toasting. Allow to cool, then rub between two towels to remove skins. After, remove as many remaining skins as possible with your fingers.

Place nuts in food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Food processor: The lazy man's chef knife.

Warm whole milk with 1 cup heavy cream and all the sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Stir.

Once warm, remove from heat and add hazelnuts.

Cover and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Set up an ice bath–cover bottom of a large bowl with ice cubes and pour water in until they are just floating. Set aside.

Place milk chocolate in a large bowl; heat remaining cup of cream until it just begins to boil and pour over chocolate.

Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.

Pour hazelnut milk through a mesh strainer into milk chocolate mixture.

Squeeze hazelnuts to extract as much liquid as possible.

Throw nuts away, eat them, or save them to swirl into the ice cream.

My friend and I kept munching on the nuts. They *ahem* were very good.

Whisk egg yolks in a separate medium bowl and pour the hazelnut-chocolate mixture in, whisking constantly.

These we did not snack on.

Pour mixture back into saucepan, scraping bowl with a spatula, and place over medium heat.

Stir constantly with a heatproof spatula, scraping bottom, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.

If you run a finger through the custard on the back of the spoon, the edges of the line shouldn't run together.

Add vanilla. Place a strainer in a bowl over the ice bath.

Pour mixture through strainer ice bath and stir until cool.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Spoon finished ice cream into container with fudge sauce.

There are no pictures of it being served. It was gone too fast.

If you're complaining that it's difficult to make Gianduja Gelato, really, it should be a lot harder to make something so delicious. Words cannot describe how marvelous it is, but I have to try. This gelato is so rich and creamy and tastes like hazelnuts, but better. The hazelnut and milk chocolate combined to create a wonderful new flavor. Since the milk chocolate isn't very pronounced in the gelato, the fudge adds a perfect note of chocolate to it. It does harden in the freezer, but it was still scoopable even after two days in the cold. Everyone in my family said it was good enough to sell in an ice cream shop.
I might.