Coffee Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

The ice cream obsession continues as every member in my family buys an ice cream maker (which I then adopt and temporarily claim as my own). Growing up, my dad's favorite ice cream flavor was coffee, which meant the freezer was always stocked with a tub of the stuff. It also meant that my whole family has grown to love coffee ice cream. While reading through my sister's copy of The Perfect Scoop last week, I saw a coffee ice cream recipe in there and knew I had to make it for my dad.

In my first ice cream making lesson, my sister taught me the trick to getting soft, creamy ice cream: liquor. I decided that I wanted to stick with that texture (how can you not love creamy ice cream?) and added some Kahlua to the ice cream. And because I can be a 5 year old sometimes, I threw in some chopped chocolate. You can omit the Kahlua if you're really against it, but the ice cream will get pretty hard. You don't actually taste the Kahlua, but you will appreciate the ice cream consistency it creates. At this point, I think I will add liquor to most of the ice cream I make (when it's appropriate). Having tried various ice cream consistencies, I prefer the "spiked" ones.

I'm currently snacking on bowl number 2 of this goodness as I type. It's addictive, and possibly slightly dangerous in my hands. Anyone that knows me is aware of how hyper I can get, especially with the addition of caffeine and sugar. You can buy decaf coffee beans if you're not into the caffeinated ice cream concept. You can also add lots more chocolate if you want, but I prefer the surprise bite of chocolate here and there over 10 chocolate chips per bite. So before I start bouncing off the walls, I will give you this oh-so-good recipe. It rivals Haagen Dazs, which is considered the best coffee ice cream in my book (sorry Haagen Dazs). Have I talked you into an ice cream maker yet?

Adapted from David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop: Ice Cream, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
Makes about 1 quart

1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup Kahlua
1/4 cup chocolate chips, coarsely chopped (or shaved from a bar of chocolate)

In a medium saucepan, over medium low heat, warm up the milk, sugar, coffee beans and 1/2 cup of the whipped cream. Do not bring to a boil, simply warm up until the coffee beans release their aroma and the mixture is warm to touch (seriously, do not boil it, I had to throw away a batch because of this mistake since burnt coffee beans taste horrible). Once warm, turn off the heat and cover the saucepan. Allow this mixture to steep at room temperature for an hour.

Pour the remaining cream into a large bowl and set a strainer on top of it. Whisk together the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Reheat the milk/coffee mixture until warm (again, do not boil) then slowly pour into the egg yolk, whisking as you pour. If you dump everything in at once there's a chance you'll cook the eggs and that's not what you want. Pour the egg/coffee/milk mixture back into the saucepan.

Over medium heat, stir this mixture constantly! Use a heatproof spatula (or similar) and scrape the bottom so the mixture does not stick. Keep stirring until this custard thickens up and coats your spatula. Lift your spatula out of the saucepan and run your finger through the custard. If the custard does not run together and you can see the mark your finger made, it's perfect.

Pour the custard into the cream, straining out the coffee beans. To get the most flavor out of the beans, press them down against the strainer. Add the vanilla and Kahlua. Allow this mixture to cool in the fridge for an hour.

Remove from fridge and mix in the chopped chocolate chips. Freeze in your ice cream maker according  to your manufacture's instructions. I let this churn for 40 minutes and left it to set in the freezer for 5 hours. Pin It Now!