Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Candy Pieces

This ice cream is amazing. Thank you David Lebovitz! I do not normally eat plain chocolate ice cream, but I would eat this plain. On that note, why eat plain when you can add good stuff. So pick your favorite candy, chop it up, and stir it in! I avoided candy with caramel in it, because it just gets hard and crunchy if you don't make it freezer friendly.

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with Candy Pieces

8 ounces (230g) dark milk chocolate (at least 35% cacao solids), broken or chopped
1 1/2 cups (375ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups (375ml) crème fraîche or heavy cream, or a combination (see Note)

Put the pieces of milk chocolate in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top. Then make an ice bath in a larger bowl (or the sink), that you'll rest the bowl of milk chocolate within later.

In a medium-sized saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks.

Once the milk is warm, slowly pour about half of it into the yolks, whisking constantly, to warm them. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof utensil, until the custard thickens and coats the spatula.

Immediately strain the custard over the milk chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the crème fraîche or heavy cream (or combination of the two).

Rest the bowl of milk chocolate custard in the ice bath, and stir until cool. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Should the custard get very thick once chilled, whisk it vigorously before adding it to your machine, which will thin it out so it's pourable.

To add the candy pieces, add to ice cream maker during last few minutes of the stirring process--or stir into mixture before freezing in freezer container.
Note: If using crème fraîche, chill the ice cream within eight hours of adding the crème fraîche; letting it rest in the refrigerator overnight and turn the whole batch a bit too-tangy. If using heavy cream, it's fine to chill overnight.