Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee Ice Cream

by Donna Currie

For the coffee-infused cream:

3 cups cream

1/2 cup ground coffee (I used Lock-n-Load Java Task Force Zulu - Single Origin Costa Rican.)

For the ice cream:

2 cups infused cream

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

To make the coffee-infused cream:

Place the cream and coffee in a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to a bare simmer - not a boil - while stirring as needed. As soon as you see those bubbles, turn the heat off. Let the mixture cool a bit, then transfer to a storage container (I used a quart canning jar) and refrigerate until well chilled. The longer you let it sit, the more coffee flavor you will have in the cream.

Strain the cream through a very fine strainer. I ended up with just a little more than 2 cups of cream. I used 2 cups for the ice cream and found other uses for the rest.

The cream still had very fine bits of coffee in it, which was fine - but you don't want to leave too much, or larger pieces.

To make the ice cream:

Place the strained cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat. Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl. Slowly whisk some of the hot cream into the eggs until you've added about half of the hot liquid to the eggs. This doesn't have to be exact - you just want the eggs to be slowly warmed.

Add the mixture back to the pan, turn the heat back up and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens. You'll feel a drag on the spoon and if you run your finger across the back of the spoon, the line will remain.

Pour the mixture through a strainer to collect any bits of egg, into a storage container. Refrigerate the mixture until thoroughly chilled. I usually leave it until the next day, but 4-6 hours should be fine. To chill the mixture faster, put a tray of ice and a little bit of water into a large bowl, put the strained ice cream mixture into a smaller bowl that will nest in the large bowl, and stir the ice cream mixture until it is cold.

When the mixture is thoroughly chilled (shoot for 40 degrees or below) churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.