It’s that time a year and if your like me, both your email and your mail box is getting flooded with catalogs & random offers. I generally throw most of this junk away, but this one I felt the need to share. I don’t know if it was intelligent marketing or just pure luck, but Cuisinart just sent out an email promoting their recipe contest winner - who won for the recipe listed below. What makes it interesting to me is that it’s a chile based recipe, sent to me, a guy that love chile peppers and also someone that has been wanting one of those mixers for quite sometime (though I have no need for it).

Servings
8

Ingredients
One chile ancho
One chile mulato
Two chiles de Arbol, Japanese chiles or similar fiery chiles
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 Egg yolks
6 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 ½ cups low fat milk
8 to 10 oz bittersweet chocolate cut in small pieces*
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

*Get the best chocolate available such as Valrhona or Callebaut bittersweet. If not available use Lindt 72% or a similar high quality chocolate.
Prep

Using rubber gloves, cut chiles open; remove seeds, stems, and veins. Place chiles in a small pan and pour enough boiling water to cover. Set aside.

Place chopped chocolate in a double boiler and heat gently until just melted. Set aside.

In a Cuisinart Stand Mixer using the Chef’s Whisk attachment whip the egg yolks, sugar, and starch until very thick and foamy

Put milk in a sauce pan and bring to the scalding point

With the mixer at low speed add the hot milk to the egg mixture pouring it near the side of the bowl

Once completely mixed place mixture back in the saucepan and cook until thickened, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Remove pan from heat and mix in the melted chocolate. Set aside to cool. For faster results place pan in an ice bath and cool rapidly while stirring.

While custard cools, put the chiles and brown sugar in a Cuisinart Blender. Blend to a smooth paste. Run the paste through a fine sieve. Discard solids. Taste for flavor. The paste should be pungent and slightly sweet. There should be about ½ cup paste. Set aside.

In a Cuisinart Stand Mixer whisk the cream until very thick but not to the point where it forms peaks. At low speed mix the custard with the cream. Place the custard into a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and begin churning. When custard is slightly thickened add chile mixture two or three tablespoons at a time. Taste after each addition, allowing enough time for the chile paste to mix with the custard. The custard should taste of rich chocolate with a smoky, slightly pungent finish. Continue adding chile paste until desired taste is achieved. Finish churning. Place in container and freeze for two hours.

Low Glycemic index alternatives for diabetic users: Replace sugar in custard with Stevia Extract. Add it to the custard after it has cooked and it is slightly cool. Add it 10 drops at a time until desired sweetness is achieved. Replace the starch in recipe with ¾ teaspoon gelatin. Bloom the gelatin in a bit of water for five minutes and then heat gently to dissolve. Add the bloomed gelatin to the custard immediately after removing from the fire. Replace the brown sugar in the chile paste with Stevia Extract. Add it ten drops at a time until the chile paste tastes slightly sweet but still a bit pungent