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Coffee Ice Cream & A New Perspective Where Art & Coffee Meet

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Coffee Ice Cream 2

I love both coffee and tea equally. But generally, I try to avoid having both on a regular basis. But a coffee ice cream is something I can’t stop dreaming about. It’s my second favorite flavor after vanilla. I keep on trying with new flavors, when it comes to ice creams, but there is something beyond exquisite thing about your classic favorites, which make you keep going back to them.

Coffee Ice Cream 3

The easiest and the no churn coffee ice cream, I made somewhere last year was this Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream. That had me into submission, totally. It was a genius of David Lebovitz. A true Perfect Scoop! Easily doable yet nonetheless fantastic! Next one I wanted to try his another custard based version, but I didn’t have any ice cream maker at home. And I kept myself satisfied with the no-churn one and forgot about the other.

Illy Coffee, Le Meridian

The other one was deeply buried somewhere down my brain, until recently, when my coffee experience got richer at one of the New Perspective series initiated by Le Meridien, New Delhi. It was when dark sensuous coffee met finer arts on a wet rainy afternoon. The weather couldn’t have been any better.

Illy Coffee, Le Meridian 1

It definitely called for a perfectly brewed sip of one of the finer creations of the Italian brew master Nicola Scognamiglio, who is also a barista trainer at Illy Coffee’s Asia Pacific division. It’s the art of brewing coffee, which the coffee expert teaches at the University Del Caffee. We got lucky enough to hear some of his great thoughts about brewing coffee and a deeper insight into the subject.

Coffee Ice Cream 4

The facts that, the milk should only be warmed up to 60 degree C, not scorching boiling, otherwise it will caramelize the sugar in milk and will give a different flavor to the coffee.  We tried three of Nicola’s wonderful creations. Marocchino Caldo, Espresso Greco and Cappuccino Freddo. Marocchino Caldo, espresso with hot thick chocolate, cocoa and milk, was the one which suited my taste buds. It basically reminded me of the coffee we used to have in old times, generously sprinkled with sweet cocoa.

Illy Coffee, Le Meridian 2

But this wasn’t enough for that afternoon. Artists Suddhasattva Basu’s artistic creations were yet to be experienced, while we sipped through some of the finest coffee concoctions.  His art represented the nature in form of  sacred garden, lotus leaves, flowers, aqua life, birds. Birds sitting on benches in garden almost made me feel, as if I can hear their sweet chirping. It was such a live art.

Coffee Ice Cream 1

An amazing blend of coffee and art really made my day and on the plus side my coffee love grew stronger. So much so, I ended up churning this coffee ice cream the very next day. Many thanks to Anasuya Basu and Meena Bhatia from Le Meridien for organizing this wonderful afternoon.

Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe minimally adapted from The Perfect Scoop

Yields: more than a pint

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup whole coffee beans
pinch of salt
1/4 cup mascarpone {at room temprature}, {click here for homemade recipe}
1 1/2 cup low fat cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp finely ground coffee

Instructions

  1. Warm the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt and 1/2 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
  2. Rewarm the coffee-infused milk mixture. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
  4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.. Strain the custard through a strainer and stir into the cream. Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of the coffee flavor as possible, then discard the beans.
  5. Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes on room temperature. Mix in the vanilla, finely ground coffee and mascarpone, after the mixture is slightly cooled.
  6. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze in freezer, until ready to serve.

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream…Coffee Love

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It’s the coffee fever, which doesn’t seem to get over me anytime soon. Whichever eatery I go these days, I look for something made with the deep flavor of coffee to end the meal. Since the day, I had that drop dead sinful coffee ice cream  at Crowne Plaza, during one of our Blogger’s Table visit, the love for the dark beans has been residing deep down my heart. I am just in love with these tiny dark mysterious coffee beans.

Baking a Chocolate Espresso Charlotte wasn’t just enough to satisfy the seemingly never dying craving for my this new found love. Not a day has passed, when I hadn’t had a sip of coffee at work {this is, when I generally try to avoid caffeine}.  And this is apparently trying to defeat all my diet regime.

While I had been talking to Ruchira and Deeba about the coffee ice cream, I got to know about Monsieur David Lebovitz’s Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream recipe, which could easily be made at home, even without an ice cream maker. I was ecstatic and knew for sure that I would be making this one on weekend. A few simple ingredients, whipping, chilling, scrapping, chilling, scrapping and chilling and then you are all set to enjoy The Perfect Scoop. The silky, velvety, deep and sensuous flavor is something which a single scoop of this ice cream can get you to.

Ingredients

600gm sweetened condensed milk
375ml espresso, cooled
200ml single cream
Big pinch of finely ground dark roast coffee

Instructions

  1. Mix all the ingredients and pour into a baking pan or a firm shallow dish.
  2. Chill and freeze the mixture for about 45 minutes, until ice crystals start to form towards the edges.
  3. Scrap the semi frozen mix with a fork or mix using a hand blender and return to freezer.
  4. Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing
  5. Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 2-3 hours to be ready.

Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches – these are perfect treat to say goodbye to summer and hot weather and to celebrate ongoing fall season. Talking of summers, this year we made loads of ice creams and other frozen treats to cool us off from the svelte-ring sun of summers. But we didn’t make any ice cream sandwich until now. And probably we’ll not be making anymore ice creams this year at least. Soon, we’ll be spending our evenings covered under the warmth of blankets, sipping into hot cups of soups and hot chocolates.

Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

That kind of days are still a couple of weeks ahead, may be. And we still have some more warmer days to enjoy the ice creams to fullest. And I couldn’t sum up the hot weather better than making these yummy fall sandwiches. A warm woody aroma of cinnamon and the juicy tart apples are always meant to be together. They are a perfect pairing, or for that matter, a perfect and classic pairing. Every year we make ice cream sandwiches during summers. They are a perfect grab-and-munch dessert snack. So, how could we not make them this year too?

Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

After all, we all love snacking, and the the fun gets doubled when you get to snack on desserts. And of all the pies, apple pie remains my favorite yet. I am sucker for apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And whenever I go to my favorite coffee shop, I order for one along with my cup of cappuccino. Although, these ice cream sandwiches have thin snappy oatmeal cookies in place of a buttery pie crust, they are no less in flavor and aroma. And the best thing is you get the fun in a single package i.e. apples, cinnamon, crust (cookie crust here) and ice cream too. Isn’t that enough to make everyone happy. Indeed it is! We all loved them a lot.

 Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Apple Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches
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For the cookies
  1. 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
  2. 1 tsp baking powder
  3. 1/4 tsp salt
  4. 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  5. 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
  6. 1 egg, room temperature
  7. 2/3 cup light brown sugar
For the caramelized apples
  1. 120 gm caster sugar
  2. 45 ml dessert wine
  3. 60 ml single cream
  4. 20 gm butter
  5. 3 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm dice
For the ice cream
  1. 600 ml single cream
  2. 300 ml milk
  3. 3 cinnamon quills
  4. 5 egg yolks
  5. 75 gm caster sugar
  6. 45 gm brown sugar
For the cookies
  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (see notes).
  2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.
  3. Gently melt the butter in a medium saucepan. When just melted, remove from heat and stir in the oats. Stir until well coated.
  4. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar with the egg until it is the consistency of a creamy icing.
  5. Whisk the flour mixture in, and then add the oats. Stir until combined, then drop, a level tablespoon at a time, onto the prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart.
  6. Bake until very deeply golden, about 10-12 minutes. Remove, and let sit for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to continue cooling.
For the caramelized apples
  1. Combine sugar, 30ml dessert wine and ¼ cup water in a frying pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
  2. Bring to the boil and cook for 4-5 minutes or until dark golden, add cream and butter and cook for another minute or until combined.
  3. Add apple, stir to coat then cook for 5 minutes or until apple is tender.
  4. Add the remaining dessert wine, stir to combine, then remove from heat and cool completely.
For the ice cream
  1. Combine cream, milk and cinnamon quills in a saucepan and bring just to the boil over a medium heat. Remove from heat and stand for 10 minutes to infuse.
  2. Whisk egg yolks and sugars in a bowl until thick and pale, pour over cream mixture and whisk to combine.
  3. Return to saucepan and cook over a medium heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon, strain into a bowl placed over ice and cool completely.
  4. Freeze mixture in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Spoon into a rectangular container, drizzle with caramelized apple mixture, swirling to combine.
  5. Freeze the container in freezer until ice cream is completely set.
  6. When about to server, scoop out the ice cream either using an ice cream scoop or using a cookie cutter and sandwich between two cookies. Repeat until all the cookies are sandwiched with ice cream. Return to freezer, if not serving immediately.
Notes
  1. Silpat isn't as good for baking cookies.
Adapted from Gourmet Traveller
Adapted from Gourmet Traveller
The White Ramekins http://thewhiteramekins.com/