A little before my time, my great-uncle owned the Allegheny Creamery in Lock Haven, Pa. I’ve heard countless stories about how my aunt used to dance and sing around the shop as a little girl, about how my great-uncle insisted on using the best ingredients (even if it meant raising the costs to get macadamia nuts from New York), and more.

When I first started making ice cream a few years ago and my grandmother started telling me more about the creamery, it only seemed natural that I loved making ice cream so much – it’s in my blood! It did take a while to develop the patience needed for making the perfect ice cream though. I’d definitely say if you can master the art of ice cream making, it will help make you a better baker in general. It teaches you a lot of patience and attention to detail.

Needless to say I spent that entire summer making all types of crazy ice cream flavors (which happens to be a very expensive habit!). When my ice cream maker finally broke, I was in my junior year of college and just didn’t have the time to dedicate to ice cream so I didn’t replace it. For my first Christmas post-grad and in my own apartment, I decided to reward myself with a new ice cream maker! Prepare yourself, the ice cream recipes will keep coming.

These images are advertisements I pulled from the Lock Haven Express Archives – I was so excited a few years ago when I found out they existed! I keep bugging my grandmother for her old photos, and some day I’ll actually steal her giant photo box and find them!

Anyways, this chocolate ice cream has long been a favorite of my boyfriend’s. There’s just no going wrong with a simple, homemade chocolate ice cream. Of course, I’m bad at doing simple, so we packed it with gooey brownies (also his favorite) and mini chocolate chips.

I mean seriously, look at all that brownie goodness packed into the ice cream! Just one more picture for fun:

If you want to try your brownies from scratch, check out my Fudge Brownie Recipe. Save some extras to heat up and serve your ice cream over – you’ll thank me later!

Looking for an ice cream maker to get started on your ice cream-making journey? I use the Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Frozen Yogurt, Sorbet, and Ice Cream Maker . It’s easy to use and clean, plus it still gives the ice cream that old-fashioned texture that everyone wants!