coffee ice cream for baked sunday mornings

I was really looking forward to making the grasshopper bars that were scheduled two weeks ago on the Baked Sunday Mornings calendar, but I guess life got in the way, and I just didn't take the time. Although I don't drink, crème de menthe has a special place in my heart, as it's one of my dad's favorite digestif, and reminds me of happy family gatherings. I keep a bottle of the stuff in the cupboard, just for my dad and my brother... It's still very full. They don't visit very often.

In any case, this week's recipe featured another thing I don't drink, coffee. Again, I keep the stuff in the house for guests, and espresso powder is a must if you're going to make recipes from the Baked cookbooks. I like the smell of it, and I enjoy coffee flavored baked goods if it's mixed with chocolate or lots of sugar, but not a flavor I crave on a regular basis. This week, we were to make Coffee Ice Cream.

I had egg yolks left over from all the cake baking I've been doing. 6 of them to be exact. I also had exactly 1 3/4 cups of cream in the fridge, about to expire... It's like it was meant to be! So I made sure the ice cream attachment for my kitchenaid was in the freezer and set out to make the base for the Coffee Ice Cream. The only change I made was using Frangelico instead of Kahlua, because that's what I had on hand, from making that delicious Frangelico caramel sauce a little while back. (Oh how delicious that caramel could have been on this coffee ice cream!)

Although the recipe does call for tempering eggs, I found it to be easier than the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home recipes that I've been making recently. Calls for less dirty dishes too, and I'm all for that.

I chilled the ice cream base overnight and churned it the next day. Froze it mid morning, and served it that night with birthday cake. It was nice and soft, perfectly scoopable and super creamy. The coffee flavor was very strong, and I couldn't taste the Frangelico in it. Guests that tried it really liked it, and left with a container after the party. Another container made its way to my parents house, and came back empty pretty quickly. I guess it was thoroughly enjoyed there too. I've been sneaking bites here and there from my last container and have to admit that it's pretty good. The texture is gorgeous. I'm kicking myself for not having swirled a ribbon of chocolate fudge sauce though the ice cream before freezing it, but I still have extra yolks in the fridge, so that might just happen sooner than later! Recipe is available here.

Check out the Baked Sunday Mornings facebook page to see what other bakers thought of this ice cream! Next up on the Baked Sunday Mornings baking calendar: Caramel Apple Cake! Yum