Ice Cream in February

Last summer, I discovered this phenomenal ice cream recipe from the Fine Cooking magazine, issue 99.  I've made it multiple times and the family usually gobbles it down by the end of the day.  I liked this recipe because it's flexible and no two ice creams are the same. 

This Monday, I made a Nutella-inspired ice cream for myself and the sibs since the weather's been warmer.  I added melted chocolate to the custard-base then mixed in ~1/3 cup roasted/chopped hazelnuts and ~1/3 cup Nutella.

I have made a few modifications to the custard-base recipe.  The original recipe calls for 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup of whole milk, but I discovered this gave the end result a rather unpleasant and odd, waxy texture.  So instead I've been using 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 cup half-and-half, and 1 cup of 1% milk (which is what's normally on hand anyways), for a total of 3 cups of liquid. 

Adding chocolate to the custard is also tricky.  I've only made chocolate ice cream 2 times and the melted chocolate always seized up when I added it to the custard.  The recipe--in very small print--says to add it to the custard BEFORE cooling.  Well, I missed that the first time I made it, so of course it seized up and gave the ice cream a grainy texture.  The second time, I added melted chocolate to the custard base right before the cooling process, but it still yielded a grainy texture.  Next time, I've decided that I need to add the chocolate at the beginning of the custard cooking process to ensure it melts evenly.