Fresh Coffee Premium Ice Cream
Because I had such a frustrating time finding the “ultimate” coffee ice cream recipe in cookbooks and online, I decided to share the pastiche of my findings in one neat recipe. Following the cues for premium ice cream in my machine’s booklet, which is usually a more custardy, denser variety that uses egg yolks and/or whole eggs, I added a touch of fresh (strong) brewed coffee, and an optional scatter of dark chocolate chunks.
Simple, right? But I was surprised by the number of recipes I’d found that called for “instant coffee granules,” — sorry, Emeril, but Sanka doesn’t play into my vision of the perfect coffee ice cream. After some searching, I did finally find a recipe that used fresh coffee (not syrup, granules, etc.) here, though I found the directions a bit wanting.
Does anyone remember the flavor sensation of the late 90s, when Starbucks partnered with Dreyer’s ice cream to create Java Chip? It seemed to take hold of supermarket ice cream aisles for a few summers… and then disappeared. I’m not sure what became of Starbucks ice cream as a whole; perhaps the corporation is more focused on producing music and breakfast now. But I do remember how dark, real-coffee ice cream tastes. And looking at the ingredients from the back of its carton, my premium coffee ice cream recipe has pretty much the same ingredients as theirs, including actual coffee, and minus the preservatives. (And instead of Starbucks coffee, I brew mine with beans from my favorite local coffeehouse, Gorilla.)
Surely, instead of brewing and chilling “the strongest coffee you’ve ever made in your life,” I could have gone down the street and gotten a double espresso and brought it back to my lair. But that would make the whole make-your-own-ice-cream procedure that much degraded in my mind — that is, unless you’ve got your own espresso maker. (I wouldn’t expect anyone crazy enough to have both an espresso maker and an ice cream maker in their own kitchen… wait, maybe I do need both.) So I make do with the strongest 1/2 cup of coffee I’d ever attempt, which is to say, probably as strong as what truly strong coffee-drinkers have for breakfast (I’m not that hardcore). And I have no complaints — espresso or not, it was really good. With some broken-up chunks of Jacques Torres 60% dark chocolate, it’s as good, or better, than any canister of yesteryear. Make that better.
Fresh Coffee Premium Ice Cream
(makes about 32 oz or 1 quart ice cream)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup the strongest coffee you’ve ever made in your life
Optional: dark chocolate chunks
Combine eggs, yolks and sugar in a bowl and blend thoroughly with a whisk or electric beater for about 5 minutes. Heat milk and cream in a medium saucepan; do not let boil, just “scorch” it until it is near-boiling hot. Turn off heat. Very slowly pour in 1 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, beating rapidly with a whisk. Once it is all beaten in, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture while beating. Heat mixture under medium low, stirring constantly, for a few more minutes or until the consistency is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon when dipped in. Turn off heat.
Pour mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the liquid. Chill overnight or until completely cool. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow machine’s directions for how long it should churn. If using chocolate chunks, pour into the mixture during the last minute of churning. Recommended: freeze for 2 hours before serving. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.
Cost Calculator:
(for 1 quart, or about 8 1/2-cup servings)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (at $2.99/pint): $2.50
1 1/2 cups whole milk (at $3.29/half gallon): $0.61
2 whole eggs (at $3.00/doz): $0.50
3 egg yolks (half of 3 eggs at $3.00/doz?): $0.38
3/4 cup sugar: $0.20
1/2 cup strong coffee using about 5 Tb ground beans: $0.75
Total: $4.94
Health Factor
Eight brownie points: the health calculator is hurting today. I’ve been piling on way too many brownies lately, I may need to give it a rest. I’m searching… dark chocolate has antioxidants? Milk, lots of all-natural calcium-rich milk! And lots of cholesterol from the cream and egg yolks. Something had to give.
April 14th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
We still find the Starbucks ice cream readily in my ‘hood (more specifically, a bit north of downtown Seattle), but I’ve used fresh espresso for ice cream and fresh coffee for a sorbet before, to generally respectable ends.
Though it doesn’t sound quite as nice, instant espresso granules actually work reasonably well for coffee flavored desserts because they can produce a more intense flavor. Side-by-side and tasted blind, I’m not entirely convinced you could tell the difference.
However, I’d never drink instant espresso… walking two blocks to my neighborhood coffee shop is instant enough, and I usually have a stash of beans at home, so I’d rather use what I have
April 14th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
You’re kidding. Java Chip doesn’t exist anymore? I must go to my grocery store posthaste to confirm.
April 14th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I stand corrected: Java Chip must still be around… but just not right in front of my eyes. Which is a completely lame basis upon which to assume it no longer exists. Also, I haven’t tried the instant coffee ice cream so I couldn’t say, but thanks for the interesting points, Jason!
April 15th, 2007 at 9:07 am
The coffee ice cream looks great! I must ask, how do you cook every single one of your meals and bring them to work though, do you prepare lunch in the morning and bring it along to work in a thermos?
April 15th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Hi Elaine! Yes, I look like a complete dork, basically. It can be pretty gratifying bringing my own lunch, though, when everyone else is complaining about this or that mysterious or unwanted object in their take-out salads or sandwiches… although mine can get pretty boring. On usual days I’ll bring leftovers or something simple like a pita and hummus, along with fruits, yogurt, all kinds of other stuff — I always figured it’d be way too boring to post a whole explanation about my lunches on this blog. Thanks for asking, though!
April 16th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I second the instant coffee thing – I would never actually drink it,(ewww) but it works for cooking. An excellent addition to a dark chocolate cake or choc sauce, as it adds and intense flavor and makes the chocolate flavor deeper/more pronounced.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:43 am
This sounds delicious. I love coffee ice cream ,and a scoop of it srinkled with heath bar chips and drizzled with Kahlua is the easiest company dessert ever!
April 17th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
That ice cream looks really delish…. On Mark Bittman’s TV show last night, David Chang made an instant coffee mayonnaise!
April 18th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I just made this ice cream two weeks ago, but couldn’t bring myself to have instant coffee/espresso in the apt. Not wanting the extra water in the ice cream, I brewed some “cowboy coffee” on the stovetop using the cream and milk, then strained out the grounds. It was excellent! The next batch was a stout ice cream – also delicious.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Yeah, Java Chip is definitely still around, at least in the Northeastern US- I bought some a week ago.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
We’re freezing it tonight. I’ll report back once it’s done.
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:14 am
Starbuck’s ice cream is still very much available in Los Angeles…I have, sadly, moved to Indiana and it is less prevalent, but shows up every now and again.
July 14th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Though your ingredients list “1/2 cup the strongest coffee you’ve ever made in your life,” the body of your recipe makes no mention of coffee whatsoever. I assume the coffee can be added at any stage. This is still the most reasonable coffee ice cream recipe i’ve been able to google up.
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:26 am
Thanks for the recipe, this was the first ice cream we ever made and it came out perfect. We not only made the strongest coffee we ever made, we probably made the strongest coffee anyone has ever made. We ran it through our espresso maker twice fresh ground both times. and we used 1 cup of coffee , 2 cups cream and 1 cup milk to adjust for the extra liquid. We both love starbucks ice cream and believe this recipe nailed it. Thanks again.
July 19th, 2008 at 8:16 am
[...] I went searching for a fresh coffee icecream, and after much research, finally found Fresh Coffee Premium Icecream over at Not Eating Out in New York. Much rejoicing was had, custard was made, and icecream was [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 3:08 am
The picture you have really looks tempting..I had to place to in my blog but I did put some links there. Great article on coffee ice cream. I really have to try this some day, hopefully soon..:)
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 pm
at what point do you add the 1/2 cup of strong coffee?
September 20th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Has anyone tried making coffee ice cream using the cold-brew coffee method (if you Google you will find great recipes where you basically make a very strong brew by pouring half normal amount of water over medium grind beans and leaving overnight, use filter the next day). Woudl seem to me a great way to do ice cream. If no one else has, I may try.
July 25th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
October 1st, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Someone asked me why women don’t gamble as much as men do, and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don’t have as much money. That was a true and incomplete answer. In fact, women’s total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage.
April 14th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Two tablespoons of crush coffee beans works like a charm. You strain them out when you finished cooking the custard. Very simple very tasty!
May 28th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
This recipe still kicks some serious ass. I refer to it every time I get a craving for the best coffee ice cream found anywhere!
July 5th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I made this and my entire office love it. I got promoted to office manager 3 weeks later. Im not saying it had anything to do with it but….:) Thanks for a great recipe ! – Jane
July 29th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Fantastic recipe. Added ground up chocolate cover espresso beans and dark chocolate. If you need a small, cheap & dirty espresso maker, I recommend this one: http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm