Here is a recipe that takes me back to the days of my first pastry chef gig. I would scour the cookbook section at the library for hours looking for new recipes and exciting flavour combinations.
One of the first pastry books that grabbed my attention is Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
First of all, I fell in love with the photography and food styling. I had envisioned my future pastry shop to look like these pages, filled with antique bundt moulds, grandma’s wallpaper and old forgotten recipes brought back from the dead. I still do.
The two recipes I was immediately drawn to were the grasshopper bars and this coffee ice cream. I have made both numerous times and they’ve made their place onto several of my menus over the years.
It’s quite possibly the best coffee ice cream I’ve ever had, thanks, in part, to the kahlúa… it’s the best use of it outside of a white Russian. It will also help keep the ice cream soft once frozen.
I like to save my old Illy espresso tins for storing this ice cream. (I don’t even wash them once empty…the little bits of leftover grounds just add to the whole thing!) They make excellent presents that way and I’m sure Martha Stewart would approve.
This is also a good time to use one of those gourmet salts you bought at that olive oil store while on vacation. I conveniently had some smoked espresso salt on hand.
Yield:Makes 2-3 coffee tins or 1 quart
Ingredients:
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 ¾ cups cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- ¾ cup + 2 Tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1 Tbsp Kahlúa
Procedure:
- In a pot, combine the cream, milk, sugar, salt and espresso powder. Bring to a simmer.
- Have your egg yolks ready in a separate bowl and slowly whisk in the hot milk mixture.
- Return to heat and continue stirring until nappé (coats the back of a spoon).
- Strain, add kahlúa, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Spin the next day in an ice cream machine (the KitchenAid attachment works great!*)
- Portion and freeze.
Notes:
*Be careful not to over-churn. The dairy will begin to separate and will actually start making butter if it goes too long.
*freeze bowl 2 days ahead of time (if using KitchenAid attachment)
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