Mark & Chris’ Mint Chocolate Melting Ball with Chocolate Soil

To make ice cream, place milk, cream, mint and vanilla extract in a saucepan and bring almost to the boil. Remove from heat and set aside for 1 hour to infuse.

Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt in a bowl until combined. Reheat milk mixture until hot and then whisking continuously, gradually add hot milk mixture to yolk mixture and whisk gently to combine. Transfer to a clean saucepan over medium heat and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon; don’t boil mixture.

Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Place in a sink one-third full with iced water and cool, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Churn in an ice cream maker until frozen. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for 4 hours.

Meanwhile, to make chocolate balls, working in batches, brush 12 holes of a 7cm silicone hemisphere mould with tempered chocolate. Stand until set, then repeat to create a second layer of chocolate.

Tap moulds on a work surface to remove air bubbles. Set aside at room temperature to set. Invert mould onto a work surface and tap to release.

To make chocolate soil, preheat oven to 180C and line an oven tray with baking paper. Process all ingredients in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Spread onto prepared tray in a thin layer. Bake for 15 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely.

To make chocolate sauce, place cream, peppermint extract and 50ml water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until hot. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth.

Divide soil among serving bowls. Place a chocolate ball in each bowl and fill with a scoop of ice cream. Top with a second hemisphere. Serve with a jug
of hot sauce to the side

COOK’S TIP

To temper chocolate, finely chop two-thirds of the chocolate, then chop remaining into 2cm pieces. Place in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch simmering water) until just melted. Transfer melted chocolate to a second heatproof bowl, then immediately stir in remaining chocolate pieces. If any chocolate pieces remain unmelted, remove them. Place bowl over the pan of simmering water and stir until just liquefied.

For more recipes from this year’s series of MKR, including perfectly scored 10 out if 10 dinner, plus decadent desserts, pick up your copy of MKR The Cookbook 2017 today! Available at selected newsagents and supermarkets, or online