My experiment with cold-brew coffee netted me around 16 oz of coffee concentrate, and I decided to make some of this lovely concentrate into one of my favorite things in the world: coffee ice cream. I could have gone the full custard route and made this into a long and labor-intensive process, but then I saw this post that outlined an easy recipe involving just cold-brew coffee concentrate, heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, ground coffee, and a pinch of salt (along with an ice cream machine).
Re-posted from the above link, courtesy of Food 52:
Serves almost a quart
- 1 cup cold-brew coffee (strong)
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon ground coffee (I chose to leave this out)
- Pinch of salt
- Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Pour into a ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.
- The ice cream is incredibly smooth and delicious!
#2 makes me laugh since that’s not an instruction! 😀
My can of sweetened condensed milk was 14 oz, so I opted to take the recipe’s first instruction at face value and I just used 8 oz (8 oz = 1 cup). I am glad I did, because the resulting mixture was just the right level of sweetness. It reminded me of Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream, actually (which is my standard-bearer for coffee ice creams)! Plus, having 6 oz of extra sweetened condensed milk (AKA: liquid crack) is never a bad thing… 😉
The ice cream churned for about 30 minutes in the machine, and then hung out in a wide flat container in my freezer for a few hours to harden up. I pretended I was in some fancy gelato place when I scooped up portions to serve.
This was GOOD. Really, really good. Does it taste like Haagen-Dazs? It’s marginally less rich, since it doesn’t have egg yolks, but it’s definitely satisfying… great balance of coffee flavor, sweetness, creaminess. I generally don’t like “stuff” in my ice cream, but this could be terrific with some chocolate chips, toffee pieces, a touch of cardamom, maybe some vanilla… The possibilities are endless! This recipe was very easy to make, and I like that you can even use decaf if you are sensitive to caffeine. It still scooped up easily on the second day, which was great. I suspect this ice cream will be gone before we officially make it to a third day!
Worth making? Definitely. If you have an ice cream machine, give this recipe a whirl. With summer coming, this dessert really hits the spot!
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Great recipe, I tried it on the weekend, very good! Add to my favourite!
A little late to the ice cream party, but this really looks easy and good.
Margaret, how long would it last in the freezer, assuming anyone could actually not eat it all?
Hi Meredith, that’s a good question! I don’t know, since I only made this recipe once and I believe it was all gone within 2.5 days, but I would aim to finish it all within a week tops, since it doesn’t have stabilizers or preservatives.
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