Chocolate Malted Ice Cream

Fall. The annual rhythms. Oktoberfest on tap. Apple picking in Cedarburg. Pumpkins on the porch. Tommy wearing a dinosaur costume for Halloween. Ellie wearing a pumpkin costume for Halloween because she has no choice and will not have choices about costumes for approximately two more years. The house smells like cinnamon and apples and the particular warmth of October in Milwaukee.

Tom comes every Saturday for renovations. This month: the bathroom. The carpet is long gone. The tile is in. Tom is installing the new vanity while Tommy hands him tools and says, "This one, Grandpa?" with great seriousness about objects he cannot identify. Tom says, "That's a wrench." Tommy says, "Why?" Tom says, "Because it wrenches." Tommy accepts this. Three-year-olds accept nonsensical answers with the same gravity they apply to real ones. Everything is new. Everything is true.

The Helen's notebook is approaching sixty pages. I've been researching commercial kitchen equipment at night while Megan is at class. Range prices. Freezer dimensions. Hood ventilation requirements. The dream is becoming technical. The dream is becoming real. The notebook is no longer a wish list. It's a blueprint.

Made apple crisp — Honeycrisp apples from Cedarburg, the annual tradition. Tommy helped cut the apples (with a butter knife, under supervision, with the intensity of someone defusing a bomb). Ellie ate raw apple pieces and got apple juice on everything within a three-foot radius. The crisp was golden and warm and served with ice cream and it tasted like every October I've ever lived and every October that's coming. The tradition continues. Through small hands. Through apple juice on the floor. Forward.

The small Milwaukee-winter is the small six-month-condition. The small cold-weather-comfort-food rotation runs October through April. The small soups, the small stews, the small braises, the small heavy-baked-goods. The small Midwestern-comfort-vocabulary is the small kitchen-language.

Megan and Jake married in June 2024. The small newlywed-rhythm is in its small second year. The small two-bedroom rental on the small east-side of Milwaukee continues to be the small first-home. The small thirty-year-mortgage-eventually-someday is the small five-year-goal. The small marriage is the small foundation the small life is being built on.

The small Polish-American heritage is the small kitchen-identity. The small pierogi-recipe-cards from Babcia Helen (Jake’s grandmother who passed in 2018, who had lived two blocks from the small Bay-View family-house) is the small monthly-Saturday-tradition. The small kielbasa-and-sauerkraut. The small bigos. The small recipes that came over from the small Krakow-region in the small 1910s.

The small Lakefront Brewery shift-work continues to be the small steady-paycheck. The small forty-hour-week brewery-floor job pays the small twenty-two-an-hour rate that the small Milwaukee-blue-collar-economy supports. The small benefits are the small union-decent. The small ten-year-tenure-target is the small career-anchor.

Megan is from a small Irish-Catholic Milwaukee-suburban family. The small Sunday-dinners at her small parents’ house rotate with the small Sunday-dinners at Jake’s parents’ house. The small in-laws on both sides have been the small welcoming-presence. The small two-family-network is the small extended-support the small newlywed-life rests on.

The small future-kid-conversations have begun. Megan teaches small fourth-grade at a small public school in Wauwatosa. The small adoption-vs-biological conversation is in the small early-discussion stage. The small five-year-plan includes the small kid-or-kids in some form. The small kitchen is the small place where the small future is being practiced.

Every year the apple crisp gets made, and every year the question is the same: what goes on top? Whipped cream is fine, but ice cream is the answer — and after Tommy handed Grandpa Tom that wrench with the seriousness of a surgeon, and after Ellie distributed apple juice across a meaningful portion of the kitchen, what we needed was a scoop that could hold its own next to warm Honeycrisp apples and golden oat topping. Chocolate malted ice cream is that scoop. It’s rich and a little retro and it tastes like it belongs next to something baked in October in Milwaukee — which is exactly what it did.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min + 4 hr chilling | Total Time: 4 hr 35 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup malted milk powder
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 large egg yolks
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp fine sea salt

Instructions

Combine dry base. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk, heavy cream, sugar, malted milk powder, and cocoa powder over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is steaming but not boiling, about 5—6 minutes.
Temper the eggs. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly ladle about 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly to temper them, then pour the yolk mixture back into the saucepan.
Cook the custard. Return the saucepan to medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon and reaches 170—175°F, about 5—7 minutes. Do not boil.
Melt in the chocolate. Remove from heat and add the chopped bittersweet chocolate, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and the custard is smooth and glossy.
Chill thoroughly. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap directly against the surface and refrigerate until completely cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.
Churn. Pour the chilled custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer instructions until it reaches a soft-serve consistency, about 20—25 minutes.
Freeze to firm. Transfer to a freezer-safe container, smooth the top, and press plastic wrap against the surface. Freeze for at least 2 hours until firm enough to scoop.
Serve. Scoop generously over warm apple crisp or enjoy on its own. Let sit at room temperature for 3—4 minutes before scooping if frozen very firm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Malted Ice Cream — The Scoop That Made Our Apple Crisp Complete