Add ¼ cup of half and half and stir well until all liquid is absorbed. Add another ¼ cup and continue stirring. You should have a very thick chocolate mixture. Make certain all cocoa powder is mixed in. You don't want any dry cocoa powder.
1½ cups half and half
Slowly add remaining half and half while stirring well. Make certain you stir well with a whisk while adding the liquid. This helps avoid any small lumps.
Add sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, pinch salt
Stir in heavy cream
1½ cups heavy cream
Put ice cream mixture in frozen bowl of automatic ice cream maker and churn for 20-25 minutes until ice cream has formed. It will be the consistency of soft serve ice cream.
Scoop ice cream into a freezer safe container and add brownie bits. Stir lightly just to distribute brownie bits.
1 cup brownie bits
Place in freezer for 2-4 hours before serving
Notes
The key to making this an easy recipe starts with mixing the cocoa powder. Cocoa powder usually has some lumps so make certain you sift it first.
Mix a very small amount of liquid with the cocoa powder forming a thick paste
Very slowly, stream in more liquid while stirring well with a whisk. Do this slowly and stir well to avoid those small lumps!
Once all the half and half has been added, you can add the other ingredients without a risk of lumps
Just tear, break or cut up the brownies to form bits. I kept them in about 1 inch pieces. They tend to disappear a bit once in the ice cream.
It's okay to add a full, heaping measuring cup of brownie bits.
Make certain your ice cream churning bowl is fully frozen. Most take at least 12 hours to fully freeze.
Have the container you'll be storing your ice cream in prechilled in the freezer. I use a glass loaf pan.
Once ice cream has churned and you've added it to your container, quickly add brownie bits and give just a gentle stir so bits are distributed.
Freeze for 2-4 hours so ice cream can cure or harden