I've been experimenting with making various ice creams at home, using my Cuisinart ICE 25R ice cream maker (now apparently superseded by other models, but it remains simple & effective).

Hardware link-
http://www.cuisinart.com/parts/ice_cream/ice-25.html

Our latest quest: SUPER SMOOTH and SUPER CHOCOLATEY homemade ice creme.
In particular: how to get the emulsion and freezing steps - and rich taste - just right?

I've liked the Ben and Jerry's book I picked up in VT years ago, but my latest (and greatest) source for guidance has been Jeni Bauer, featured in these links below, and an owner of stores in Ohio and Tennessee. Apparently she also has a new book: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

Links:
backstory-
http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Heres-the-Scoop-Jenis-Splendid-Ice-Creams

tutorial-
http://www.saveur.com/gallery/Ice-Cream-101/1

Base recipe-
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Jenis-Ice-Cream-Base

Here are excerpts:

Jeni Britton Bauer, raised in Peoria, Illinois, an Ohioan by choice, she opened her first ice cream counter in 1996 at Columbus's old North Market. A former art student, Bauer had pink hair and lots of foodie, cow-to-cone ideas. But her insanely imaginative small-batch ice cream was so pure, so rich, and so deeply flavored that Central Ohioans forgot to be alarmed by her eccentricities. They also forgot that they are the original vanilla cone crowd and began lining up for scoops of chile dark chocolate and salty caramel ice cream.

"You have to see ice cream as chemistry, a delicate dance between proteins, sugars, butterfat, air, and a few other equally unsexy components," she says. "Once you understand the role that each plays, you have complete freedom with ingredients. I really geeked out on it all."

Now Bauer, whose hair has long since been restored to its natural dark blonde, owns nine Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams stores in Ohio and one in Tennessee. And her new book, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (Artisan, $23.95), walks readers through her technique, which she adapted for the home cook. It's a novel approach which achieves some of the creamiest, most saturated-in-flavor ice cream that I've ever tasted.
The problem with homemade ice cream is that it's often too soft or too dense, lacking a luscious mouth-feel. Bauer's technique addresses, and solves, some of the common problems head-on.

Ice cream is basically a frozen emulsion, in which components that do not naturally meld—fat, water, and air—are encouraged to marry by adding such things as heat, proteins, sugars, and starches. The stronger the marriage, the more supple the ice cream will be. If water is not bound well with the other ingredients, it becomes nasty little ice shards that disrupt the smooth sensation on the tongue. Rather than using the traditional egg yolk to bind water and fat in the frozen emulsion, Bauer relies on the proteins in milk—casein and whey. She boils the liquid to reduce its water content, concentrating and denaturing the proteins, rendering them more likely to bind the water and fat.

Bauer's other tricks include adding cream cheese, which is high in casein proteins, and using thickeners, such as cornstarch, which absorb water and prevent crystallization, for added insurance. Her use of natural corn syrup in addition to granulated sugar is also key: Its glucose is not as sweet in flavor as sugar's sucrose, and it binds with water, which helps prevent icing, too.

Her basic formula is foolproof, and applies to all flavors, from nutty praline to good old-fashioned chocolate. No matter what kind of ice cream maker you use (see Ice Cream Unplugged), it turns out smooth, rich results.

Chocolate recipe-
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/The-Darkest-Chocolate-Ice-Cream-in-the-World

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE ICE CREAM BASE:
2 cups milk
4 tsp. cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 tbsp. cream cheese, softened

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE:
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup brewed coffee
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make the ice cream: In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set slurry aside. In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together remaining milk and the cream, sugar, syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 4 minutes; stir in slurry. Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Place cream cheese in a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup hot milk mixture; whisk until smooth. Then whisk in remaining milk mixture.

2. Make the chocolate sauce: Bring cocoa, brewed coffee, and sugar to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over high heat; cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate.

3. Stir sauce into ice cream base. Pour mixture into a plastic bag; seal, and submerge in a bowl of ice water until chilled. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer ice cream to a storage container and freeze until set.

~~

*My variations on the instructions above?
Before a slow cooling process (a few hours in fridge, before adding to ice cream maker, in an effort to decrease ice crystals), add in a pinch of Cayenne Red Pepper, a dash of vanilla, and some real maple syrup: for some spice, aromatics, and a touch of Vermont.

>>Anyone been to her stores, or had her ice cream? I like how her recipe works at home for me.

Enjoy.