Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee ice cream

Easy, home-made Coffee Ice Cream recipe

This Coffee Ice Cream is rich and delicious with a strong coffee flavour. I think that it is the ice cream equivalent of a creamy cappuccino. It has a certain sophistication, although it is very easy to make, and is a good make-ahead dessert for a dinner party or family meal.

This is a very simple recipe, using only four ingredients, all of which you are likely to have in your store cupboard. The coffee flavour comes from instant coffee granules which, perhaps surprisingly, produce a strong, rich and sophisticated coffee flavour. Seriously, no one who eats this ice cream believes that it is made with coffee granules!

Coffee ice cream

Why make your own ice cream?

There are many fantastic brands of ice cream available in the shops so why bother making your own? First off, if you make your own ice cream, you can ensure that it contains only wholesome ingredients such as milk, cream and fresh fruit. Secondly, you can also experiment with different flavour combinations. I am always looking at ways that I can use other recipes in an ice cream – for example Lemon Curd Ice Cream or Cranberry Ice Cream (which uses Cranberry Sauce!) And thirdly, I think it tastes better!

Coffee ice cream

What do you need to know about making Coffee Ice Cream?

  • Although you can make this recipe without an ice cream maker, it is a lot easier if you have one. You can buy a basic ice cream maker fairly cheaply.
  • It is best to start this recipe the day before you eat it. This will mean that once you have made the basic custard, it will have time to chill down before you put it in the ice cream maker the next day.
  • You can also make this ice cream well in advance if that is more convenient. I generally make double the quantity and keep it in the freezer where it will last for up to three months.
  • Although coffee can be quite an adult flavour, children seem to love this ice cream even if they don’t like drinking coffee or have never tried it. However, if you use regular instant coffee granules, it will contain caffeine so you do need to be aware if you are serving it to young children or to adults who, unlike me, are not regular coffee drinkers and may not have a high caffeine tolerance. If you want to make a no-caffeine version, simply use decaffeinated coffee granules.
  • As with most home-made ice creams, it helps to remove the container from the freezer about ten minutes before serving as this will make it easier to scoop.
  • This recipe produces a very rich Coffee Ice Cream which means a little goes a long way. Keep the portions small – people can always have seconds.
  • This ice cream is pretty good served straight. However, if you want to add a bit of decoration, good options are chocolate chips, curls or flakes (particularly dark chocolate) or chopped toasted nuts (particularly hazelnuts or walnuts). I have also been known to pour a couple of tablespoons of coffee-flavoured liqueur, such as Kahlua, over my bowl. However, I would avoid serving it with whipped cream as the ice cream itself is rich and very creamy.
  • You can serve Coffee Ice Cream on its own. However, it also goes well with other ice cream flavours in particular vanilla, chocolate or any nut-based ice creams such as hazelnut or walnut. It is also good with any chocolate-based dessert – we often serve it with warm Chocolate Brownies which is truly a match made in heaven.

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Coffee ice cream
Other home-made ice cream recipes

I am a great home-made ice cream enthusiast. I make it in the summer, of course, but am happy to eat it in winter too! Some of my other recipes are listed below.

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Coffee ice cream

Coffee Ice Cream

  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 6 to 8 1x
  • Category: ice cream
  • Cuisine: English

Description

This rich and creamy, home-made Coffee Ice Cream is made from only four ingredients.  


Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 85 g caster sugar
  • 425 ml double cream
  • 5 teaspoons of instant coffee granules

 

Coffee ice cream


Instructions

  1. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl until the mixture looks paler and resembles a mousse.
  2. Put the cream and coffee granules in a saucepan and heat gently. Do not allow to boil – it will be the right temperature when you are just about able to bear to dip a finger in it.
  3. Pour the cream into the bowl containing the egg yolks and sugar, whisking all the time.
  4. Transfer the combined mixture into a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or, ideally a double-boiler, as you need to reheat it very gently.
  5. The mixture will gradually thicken until it looks like a custard (which is what it is).  Stir regularly to make sure it does not stick while it is thickening.
  6. Remove the thick custard from the heat and transfer into a bowl. 
  7. Allow to cool to room temperature and then transfer to the fridge to become thoroughly chilled.
  8. When you are ready to make the ice-cream, transfer to your ice-cream maker and use according to your machine’s instructions.  If you do not have an ice-cream maker, you can place the mixture in a freezer-proof container, put in the freezer for several hours until half-frozen.  Whisk the mixture and then return to the container and replace in the freezer until totally frozen.

Coffee ice cream


Notes

If you want to make a caffeine-free version of this ice cream, you can use decaffeinated coffee granules.

Remove from the freezer ten minutes before serving to ensure that it is easy to scoop.

This ice cream will keep for up to three months in the freezer.

Keywords: ice cream, coffee, home-made

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14 thoughts on “Coffee Ice Cream”

  1. Sounds decadent and scrumptious; I bet you it takes some will power to not devour the custard even before freezing!

    1. Thank you 😊 If you don’t freeze the custard but just leave it in the fridge overnight, you actually get a really yummy coffee mousse!

  2. Hello Joanna, I always thought of making ice cream for the family…of course for me. I love ice cream even if its rainy season. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and recipes. Have a great week ahead

  3. Mm one of my favourite flavours. My ice cream machine is currently freezing so this could very well be the one it comes out for. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Michelle

  4. You can’t see it but I’m definitely drooling over here… Yumm!
    Also: those pictures belong on a wall! So beautiful.

    1. Thank you so much! It is definitely one of my favourite ice creams to make as it is really easy 😊

  5. Gorgeous! I don’t even like coffee but I’m craving this! Luckily, my son does and would gladly help me out! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday this week.

    Mollie

    1. Thank you! My children all like this ice cream although none of them like drinking coffee 😊

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