Two of my favorite flavors--coffee and toffee--team up for a tasty grownup ice cream treat.
It just doesn’t seem like summer without a giant ice cream in hand on a sunny afternoon. This coffee toffee ice cream is a French custard-based recipe, meaning that it is made with eggs. The base of this ice cream is a cooked liquid custard, or crème anglaise, with a characteristically high ratio of cream to milk and eggs, which produces the most rich and smooth ice cream. Once cooled completely, the custard is churned in an ice cream machine before adding hand-chopped toffee. Drooling yet?
Equipment: cutting board; chef’s knife; wet measuring cup; dry measuring cup; medium saucepan; mesh strainer; whisk; wooden spoon; rubber spatula; cheesecloth; medium mixing bowl; ice cream machine
Ingredients: 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup coarsely ground coffee
1/2 cup sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 cups chopped toffee
"Decaffeinated coffee is a must for ice cream, by the way. You don't want that late-night scoop to keep you up!"
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream, milk, ground coffee, and sugar. Set heat to medium-high and simmer until the sugar completely dissolves, approximately 3-5 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl, and then gently whisk about a quarter of the hot cream into the yolks to temper them, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds. Whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the remaining cream mixture. Return the pan to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon or spatula, stirring constantly (see videos below).
3. Remove the pan from heat and allow custard to steep for 20-30 minutes to get the richest coffee flavor.
4. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to make sure that you do not leave any liquid behind. Discard the coffee grounds, clean and dry the mesh sieve/strainer, and line it with cheesecloth. Strain the mixture again into another bowl to help remove the smaller coffee grounds. You may even wring the cheesecloth dry to get all the strained custard you can. Cool the strained mixture to room temperature, then cover and chill overnight.
5. Churn the chilled coffee custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions (generally about 20 minutes). Stir in the chopped toffee, place in a container and store in the freezer.
Makes 6 servings.
Strain the Custard at Least Twice
"This might seem cumbersome, but it actually saves you time this way, counterintuitive as it seems. First strain the custard directly through a mesh sieve. This will get rid of the biggest grains of coffee, which will in turn make getting rid of the tiny ones a more targeted, effective task. For the second strain, use cheesecloth with the strainer. Since all the big pieces of coffee will have been removed already, you'll have an easier time letting the liquid through the cheesecloth, leaving the coffee bits behind."