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Here’s a bold and sweet flavored Homemade Coffee Ice Cream recipe made with strong brewed coffee using an ice cream maker. It’s easy to make, and it has the most fabulous rich and creamy texture! Coffee ice cream is the ultimate old fashioned ice cream recipe.
If you’re a lover of homemade ice cream, be sure to try our recipes for cake batter ice cream, 3 Musketeers ice cream and chocolate cookies and cream ice cream.
The Recipe Boys around here (Brooks and his Dad) are big time coffee fans. We have the best fancy coffee machine so they can make all of their favorite coffee drinks. And they order up coffee ice cream any time they see it on a menu. I decided to surprise them recently with the best coffee ice cream recipe ever! This coffee ice cream is so much better than store-bought, and truthfully it’s better than any coffee ice cream that these guys have ordered in an ice cream shop too!
Tools needed for making homemade coffee ice cream:
- Ice Cream Maker: We love the Cuisinart ice cream maker. We actually have TWO of them!
- Fine Sieve: This is a must. You need it to strain the custard and remove any solids.
- Ice Cream Container: I love the shape of these ice cream containers because they fit so nicely in your freezer.
- Ice Cream Scoop: If you want the best scoop ever, pick up a Zeroll scoop. Otherwise, spring ice cream scoops work pretty well too.
This recipe comes from the cookbook: Cutting Up in the Kitchen by Duane Nutter. It’s full of great southern recipes! From Amazon: You will find recipes for Spiced Rum Iced Coffee and Coconut Negroni to whet your whistle; Smoked Paprika Compound Butter and Mustard Green Chimichurri to flavor dishes; Arugula Salad with Golden Beets, Pickled Grapes, and Spiced Pecans along with Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs to start the meal; Sautéed Royal Red Shrimp with Bourbon Maque Choux or Lamb Burger Helper for a main course, and Buttermilk and Honey Ice Cream, Citrus Bread Pudding, or Cheesecake Flan to close the show.
Ingredients Needed:
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Make sure you use “heavy cream.” If you happen to be outside of the U.S., you’ll want to use “double cream.” Don’t use light cream or half and half. The high fat content will help produce a nice and creamy ice cream texture.
- Whole Milk: You need whole milk. Don’t use low fat or fat free. Half and half can be substituted for the whole milk.
- Sugar: White sugar is what you need for this recipe. You can substitute organic cane sugar, if you’d like.
- Egg Yolks: It’s important to use only egg yolks to create the custard base for this coffee ice cream. Save the egg whites to make scrambled eggs!
- Vanilla Extract: Don’t use imitation vanilla extract. Vanilla bean paste would be a great substitute for vanilla extract if you have that on hand.
- Salt: A small amount of salt cuts the sweetness of the ice cream. Don’t leave it out.
- Coffee: You need 1/4 cup of brewed coffee for this recipe. Read the tips below for types of coffee you can use.
How to make Homemade Coffee Ice Cream:
The complete, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here’s a brief overview.
- Set a smaller bowl inside a larger bowl that has been filled with ice and water. Set a fine sieve inside the smaller bowl.
- Follow the instructions in the recipe for making the custard base.
- Pour the custard base through a fine mesh sieve set over the small bowl, and let the base cool to room temp.
- Stir in the coffee, and then refrigerate the base overnight.
- Churn your ice cream the following day.
Notes regarding the coffee used to make coffee ice cream:
- You’ll need 1/4 cup of brewed coffee for the recipe. Depending on what type of coffee you use, it should have somewhere between 24 to 50mg. of caffeine.
- Using decaffeinated coffee is an option if you don’t want your coffee ice cream to have caffeine (though decaf coffee does contain a small amount of caffeine).
- The type of brewed coffee that you use for this recipe is completely up to you. Use instant coffee or instant espresso, if you’d like by adding 1 or 2 teaspoons of instant powder to a cup of hot water (no need to brew). Remember that you’ll only need 1/4 cup of coffee to make the ice cream though.
- You can also use cold brew coffee from a can!
- Whatever you do… don’t add actual coffee grounds to your ice cream base.
Recipe Tips:
- Make sure you have ample time to freeze the churning bowl that comes with the ice cream machine. I recommend freezing it at least overnight.
- Make the ice cream base on one day, refrigerate it overnight and then churn the ice cream the next day. Don’t try to rush the process.
- Don’t scramble the yolks when you make the custard. You can easily avoid this by slowly pouring ¼ cup of the warm cream mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly to temper the eggs.
- Mix in ideas: chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, crumbled chocolate chip cookies or nuts.
- Before serving, let your coffee ice cream sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes to let it soften a bit before scooping and serving.
Storage tips for homemade ice cream:
Store homemade coffee ice cream in a tightly covered container in your freezer for up to 3 months.
What you’ll love about homemade coffee ice cream:
- There are so many ways to serve coffee ice cream: scoops, on top of an ice cream cone, as a sundae or smashed between two chocolate chip cookies to make an ice cream sandwich!
- Because it’s “coffee” ice cream, it could potentially pass as a breakfast food. Just kidding, of course. But maybe??
- It’s pretty amazing served on top of your favorite brownies!
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup strong brewed coffee
Instructions
- Fill a large bowl with ice and water, set another bowl on top, and set a fine mesh strainer in the bowl.
- In a medium-saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar and salt; cook over medium-heat stirring frequently, just until the sugar dissolves. When the liquid is steamy, but not boiling, remove from the heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla. Slowly pour ¼ cup of the warm cream mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly to temper the eggs.
- Transfer the warm egg mixture to the pot with the remaining cream mixture, and whisk to combine. Return the pot to medium heat, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula and scraping the bottom and the sides of the pot until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Immediately pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the large bowl set over the ice; stir and let the ice-filled bowl underneath cool the ice cream base to room temperature. Remove the bowl from the ice water, add the hot coffee and stir again until the mixture comes to room temperature. Cover, and refrigerate the ice cream base overnight.
- The next day, pour the mixture in your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Nutrition
This recipe comes from RecipeBoy.com
