Coffee Ice Cream

by Cindi Sutter, Founder & Editor - Recipe provided by COOKIE + Kate

Rich and creamy homemade coffee ice cream recipe from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream at Home.

photo by COOKIE = Kate

Ingredients

3 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn starch (or tapioca starch)

3 tablespoons (1 ½ ounces) cream cheese, softened

⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup heavy cream

¾ cup turbinado (raw) sugar

3 tablespoons agave nectar

¼ cup dark-roast coffee beans, coarsely ground

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the corn starch to make a smooth slurry.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt until very smooth.

3. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.

4. Combine the remaining milk, cream, sugar and agave nectar in a 4-quart saucepan. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium heat and boil for four minutes. Remove from heat, add coffee grounds and let it seep for 5 minutes.

5. Strain the milk mixture through a sieve lined with a layer or cheesecloth. (Or do as I did and strain it through a paint straining bag, which I also use to make nut milks. They’re only a couple of dollars at hardware stores.) Squeeze the coffee in the cheesecloth or paint strainer to extract as much liquid as possible, and then discard the grounds.

6. Return the cream mixture to the saucepan and gradually whisk in the corn starch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened (about 1 minute). Remove from heat.

7. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold (about 30 minutes).

8. Following your manufacturer’s instructions, pour the cold ice cream base into the frozen canister of your ice cream maker. Place your glass storage container in the freezer so it can get cold (that way the ice cream won’t melt on contact). Spin until thick and creamy.

9. Pack the ice cream into your cold storage container, press a sheet of parchment paper directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm (at least 4 hours).

NOTES

Recipe slightly adapted from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. The original recipe called for 2 ½ cups whole milk and 1 ½ cups heavy cream, but I only had 1 cup of cream and added more milk to make up the difference. I also traded agave nectar for the original recipe’s light corn syrup. My ice cream ended up super creamy and had less fat than the original.
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT: If you’re in the market for an ice cream maker, this one has been very good to me. I also love these heavy-duty glass storage containers.