Perfect Coffee Ice Cream
Is it possible to have found the perfect coffee ice cream? I think so! Especially when it’s suitable to eat for breakfast!
Coming from a family of coffee snobs and growing up in a house where ice cream for breakfast was totally acceptable because it had protein in it.
I've been in search of the perfect coffee ice cream my whole life, and I think I've finally found it. All it took was moving out of the city, buying my own cow, learning to milk her, getting some chickens, getting the good vanilla from Mexico, and finding the perfect espresso. No big thing, right?
Even without your own cow or chickens, you can make this super simple coffee ice cream with ingredients from your local grocery store or market.
Why I Love This Recipe
My cow, Reba Milkentyre, knows how to treat me right. She provides ample amounts of milk with gobs of heavy cream that I’m able to skim from the top to make this delicious and decadent recipe.
This recipe is my favorite, though, because it combines my love of ice cream, coffee, and breakfast! OK, that last one is up for discussion, but I still stand by the fact that ice cream can be eaten for breakfast!
Supplies Needed
Large bowl
Whisk
Heavy-bottomed saucepan or pot
Ice Cream maker
Ingredients Needed
If I was making regular vanilla ice cream I would use 2 cups of heavy cream and one cup of regular whole milk, but because this is coffee ice cream I omit the cup of milk and replace it with espresso!
2 cups heavy cream - this can be purchased from the store, or skimmed from the top of your raw milk.
1 cup espresso - brew your espresso strong! You don’t want watery espresso messing up your thick and delicious ice cream base.
2/3 cup cane sugar - you can use organic sugar here, but stick to granulated sugar as other sugars will mess with the consistency of the ice cream.
6 egg yolks - chickens not required, you can get these from the store, too! I only like to use the yolks to keep my ice cream base more custard-like and less milk-based.
1 tsp real vanilla - the good kind, from Mexico!
1 pinch sea salt
1 Tbs vodka - this is a lesser-known ice cream making tip, but adding just a splash of vodka will help keep the ice cream soft and scoopable.
Homemade Coffee Ice Cream
Once you have your ingredients and supplies together:
Whisk together the cream, espresso, vanilla and sugar, heat in a heavy bottomed pan over medium low heat.
While the mixture is heating over the stove, separate your egg whites from egg yolks and whip the egg yolks.
Add 1/3 cup of the liquid mixture to the whipped egg yolks and stir quickly.
Add all of that back into the pan, stir constantly.
Heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon/reaches 175 degrees F.
Add 1 tblsp Vodka.
Remove from stovetop, cool in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. Now, if you’re an impatient ice cream making such as myself, you can speed this process along by putting the mixture into a glass measuring cup or bowl, then placing that measuring cup into a large bowl of ice, water and salt. Stir the custard mixture constantly until it cools through and is ready for the ice cream maker.
Put mixture into ice cream maker, let freeze, enjoy!