My mom and I are, and have always been, big fans of the coffee bean. When I was a kid, coffee was my absolute favorite ice cream flavor. For this recipe, I used Scotty P’s coffee (
get yours here!). Most people know Scott as Luke Dane’s on Gilmore Girls (my favorite show), but what some people may not know is that he also sells really incredible coffee! The Jamaican Me Crazy Coffee is my all time favorite coffee. It has wonderful notes of caramel and vanilla. When I first smelled and tasted it, I just knew it would make an unbelievable ice cream. And boy was I right!
I used dark chocolate because I really wanted to play off the roasted flavor, and subtle bitterness of coffee. The chocolate gives a similar taste and texture to a crunchy chocolate covered coffee bean in this ice cream and helps balance out the sweetness from the caramel. This ice cream recipe is a slam dunk, and it did not last very long in our house. Seriously, I blinked and it was gone!
Cinnamon Salted Caramel Sauce
For this recipe, I used a modified version of my basic Caramel Sauce (
click here)
I added:
1/8 tsp ground Cinnamon and 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon Maldon flaked sea salt (feel free to adjust the amount depending on how salty you like your caramel)
1. Prepare the caramel (
see recipe) and set aside.
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients:
5 egg yolks
2 cups half + half
1 + 1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons Scotty P’s Jamaican Me Crazy ground coffee
2 tablespoons Scotty P’s Black Gold Decaf ground coffee
Pinch of salt
3.5oz bar of Lindt 78% Dark Chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions:
1. Heat the 2 cups of half and half with the ground coffee in a sauce pan, stirring frequently. Do not boil or simmer. When thoroughly heated, remove from heat and set aside to steep for 1 hour.
2. Pour the coffee and half and half mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Return the liquid to the pot. Add the sugar and cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture is hot but not boiling.
3. Temper the mixture into the egg yolks by very slowly pouring the mixture into the egg yolks, a little bit at a time, while whisking.
4. Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat whisking constantly until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spatula.
5. Set a fine mesh strainer over a bowl filled with the remaining 1 + 1/4 cup of cream.
6. Pass the custard mixture through the strainer and into the bowl with the cream. Stir in the vanilla.
7. Place custard in the refrigerator or over an ice bath until thoroughly chilled.
8. When mixture is chilled, pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers settings. (Models will vary).
9. Add the chopped dark chocolate during the last 5 minutes of mixing. When churning ends, mix the ice cream by hand with a spoon or spatula to ensure even distribution of chocolate.
10. Pour 1/3 of the ice cream into a loaf pan, or freezer friendly storage container. Drizzle a layer of salted caramel over the ice cream – however much you prefer. Repeat until all the ice cream is used (you should have 3 layers). Freeze for at least 4 hours.
