THE LIKE-A-PRO ICE CREAM
With Toblerone chocolate, milk, heavy cream, sugar, and xanthan gum.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to part with a whole bar of Toblerone for an ice cream recipe—but trust me, it’s worth it. This is no ordinary chocolate ice cream. The milk chocolate, honey, and almond nougat melt right into the base, creating a flavour that’s unmistakably Toblerone—rich, creamy, and deeply nostalgic.
The texture is full and smooth, fluffs beautifully during churning, and melts like a dream. It has that gelato-style finish you’d expect from a high-end scoop shop.
If you’ve tried any of our “Like-A-Pro” ice cream series before, you already know the magic. Xanthan gum replaces eggs to create a luxurious, eggless ice cream that churns beautifully, melts evenly, and stays creamy in the freezer.
And if you want extra texture, stir in chopped Toblerone during the final minutes of churning.
More to explore:
When making ice cream, prefer to weigh all the ingredients, even the liquid ones. We also recommend – whenever possible – to weigh the liquid ingredients directly into the bowl/pan as you proceed with the recipe instead of transferring them from one bowl to another because this transfer causes a small -but unwanted- loss of quantity.
If you do not have a kitchen scale, follow these guidelines:
• 1 cup (US) = 237 ml | 1 tablespoons = 15 ml
• sugar: measuring sugar in tablespoons is more accurate than measuring it in cups. Use a 15 ml measuring tablespoon (not a regular one); this is 13 gr of sugar. To measure correctly, each time you scoop the sugar, level it with the flat side of a knife.
• milk and heavy cream: thoroughly scrape with a rubber spatula any residues left on the sides and bottom of the cup every time you measure something and empty it.
Note that the quantities in each measuring system (grams, ounces, and cups) in our recipes may not always be accurate conversions; any deviations in conversions you may notice do not affect the outcome.
A flexible rubber spatula is good for:
-wiping the bottom of the saucepan when you cook dairy on the stovetop.
-scraping residues from bowls, saucepans etc.
If you do not have one, we strongly encourage you to buy one, preferably a flexible one.
The ice cream mixture needs to cool completely and hydrate before churning, so prepare it in advance (approx. 8 hours before) to give it time to chill in the refrigerator.
If your ice cream maker has a removable freezer bowl, put it in the freezer for the whole time indicated by the manufacturer before churning, usually 24 hours.
Chop the Toblerone: Finely chop the Toblerone chocolate (250 g / 8.8 oz) and set aside.
Heat the Milk and Sugar: In a medium saucepan, combine the milk (600 g / 21.2 oz) and sugar (80 g / 2.8 oz). Warm over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves and the milk is hot and steamy. Do not let the milk boil before the sugar dissolves, or it may curdle.
Increase the heat to high. As soon as the milk comes to a rolling boil—when large bubbles appear and pop vigorously on the surface, or just as it begins to overflow (about 90°C / 195°F)—remove from the heat.
Melt the Chocolate: Add the chopped Toblerone to the hot milk. Blend immediately using an immersion blender, pausing once to scrape with a rubber spatula the bottom and sides of the saucepan to remove chocolate residues.
Return to Heat: Place the saucepan back over medium heat and warm the mixture until hot and steamy (about 65°C / 149°F), stirring continuously. Remove from the heat.
Add the Xanthan Gum: Gradually sprinkle the xanthan gum (½ teaspoon) over the surface while blending with the immersion blender. Take care not to let the blender directly touch the xanthan gum before it disperses, to avoid clumping.
Add the Cream: Pour in the heavy cream (285 g / 10.1 oz) and blend again until fully combined.
Strain the Base: Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. If the blending and stirring were done thoroughly, the sieve should remain clear of lumps.
Chill until completely cold: Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days. Xanthan gum needs 6-8 hours in the refrigerator to fully develop.
Check if the Ice Cream Mixture is Cold before churning it: below 12ºC / 54ºF / it feels fridge-cold when you place your (clean) finger into it.
Prepare the Ice Cream Maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Blend: Give the ice cream mixture a nice, thorough stirring, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, then give it a quick blitz with the immersion blender. Do not skip this step; it’s essential for a silky-smooth texture, especially in chocolate-based ice creams.
Churn: With the machine running, pour the ice cream mixture through the canister and into the ice cream maker. Leave to churn until fluffed up and creamy; depending on your ice cream maker, this can take anywhere from 30-70 minutes.
This ice cream will expand and fluff up during churning. It is ready when it looks creamy and wavy, with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. The total churning time depends on your ice cream maker and could be anywhere from 30-70 minutes.
To evaluate if it is ready, lift a spoonful; it should be thick enough to stand on the spoon, but it will still be soft like soft-serve ice cream. If it looks watery or starts to melt the moment you spoon it, leave it to churn for longer.
In any case, if you feel doubts about the consistency, leave it to churn for ten minutes more. But beware: at this stage, do not expect it to be like store-bought carton ice cream; for now, it should be more like soft-serve ice cream. It will firm up and become like store-bought ice cream only after it sets in the freezer.
So, stop the ice cream maker when thick and creamy, as described above. If you leave to churn it for much longer, it will start turning grainy.
Warning: some ice cream makers are programmed to stop after a specific time, which doesn’t make sense because the ice cream may need to churn for more to reach its fullest potential. So, if you notice that your ice cream maker stops on its own and upon checking the ice cream, you find that it is sloppy instead of fluffy, try to turn the machine on again and leave it to churn until it reaches the desired texture.
Put in the freezer to set: before serving the ice cream or moving it to a container for storing, you have to put it in the freezer to set. To do so, turn off the ice cream maker and:
· remove the removable freezer bowl (still filled with the ice cream) from the ice cream machine
· remove the paddle, scraping any ice cream attached to it back into the ice cream bowl
· place it in the freezer, uncovered
Setting time depends on many factors; see notes below for indicative times.
Serve or store: when it sets, you can serve it directly from the removable freezer bowl or transfer it to an airtight container for longer storage.
The time it takes for ice cream to set depends on the type of ice cream maker you are using. Here are the approximate setting times:
– 3-5 hours for removable freezer bowls (these are the bowls that need to be pre-frozen before churning)
– 1-2 hours for aluminum bowls (these are the bowls from compressor ice cream makers)
Please note that these times are approximate and can vary based on different factors. You should check the ice cream occasionally, approximately every 1-2 hours or as needed, while it is in the freezer. The ice cream is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of -11°C / 12°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can check if the ice cream has set by inserting a round tip knife into it all the way to the bottom:
– When the ice cream is ready, it should feel firm as you go down, but also soft enough to insert the knife.
– If it’s not ready, it may feel hard on the top and softer as you go down.
– If it’s been in the freezer for too long, it will be too hard to insert the knife and likely too hard to scoop out of the ice cream bowl. In this case, you can find out how to make it scoopable again by clicking on the next section.
If the ice cream stays in the removable freezer bowl for too long, it will become too hard to remove or serve.
To make it scoopable again, leave it in the refrigerator to soften. That can take:
(Note: the time given is indicative, time may vary depending on many factors, so do check it occasionally as it sits in the refrigerator.)
When the ice cream is soft enough to scoop (or it has an internal temperature of approx. -11°C /12°F if you have a thermometer), you can transfer it to another container and store it in the freezer or serve it directly from the freezer bowl.
Straight after churning, the ice cream has a soft-serve ice cream consistency and melts immediately upon contact with anything. So it is too messy to serve or transfer to another container.
Putting it in the freezer after churning sets it and brings it to the right consistency: scoopable and easy to serve or transfer to another container to store it.
Storing: In the freezer for one month, cover it well to protect it from absorbing the freezer’s smells.
Scooping: Like all artisanal ice cream, this ice cream freezes hard in the long term. You can make it perfectly scoopable again by putting it in the refrigerator for 45-60 minutes until soft or until its internal temperature reads -11°C / 12°F.
