Finding The Best Coffee Ice Cream Recipe | Carlienne's Creamery

Today's experiment is finding the best coffee ice cream recipe out there. There are tons of recipes that utilize whole beans or even instant coffee but we are going to take a stab at using whole and ground coffee with 2 of our ice cream bases that we think would work perfectly with a coffee flavor. Join us in finding out the best coffee ice cream recipe anyone can make at home!

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[MariaDiez-qocb]

I am going to keep these recipes for when I want to spend time making a proper coffee ice cream! Thank you.🙂💕

[digitalmuze]

Carlienne's exploration is presently the most thorough I could find -- thanks for laying a foundation for fellow foodies
... I routinely fresh-roast coffee beans & fresh-grind those beans for each brew; in my comments below, you'll see several transferrable barista techniques for application to coffee ice cream

As of this update, I've attempted coffee ice cream twice. The first result was ... unpleasant; coffee grounds remained in the base, so the ice cream flavor was sharp, and texture was gritty. But the second attempt produced an almost ideal result. Here's what I have (so far) ...

MY PREFERRED ICE CREAM BASE:
... my objective is a base which requires no cooking; i.e. Philly-style, not a custard; I will try Carlienne's PH-rench base, if I decide to add the eggs -- but not yet
... for a typical 1.5 qt ice cream maker (e.g. Cuisinart ICE-21), the target amount of base is 4 cups (1 qt) -- expect it will expand during churning
... started with ATK's ice cream primer -- imparts understanding about optimal fat to water ratios, and why sugars are important (both granulated & invert) for their "anti-freeze" properties so ice cream remains soft enough to scoop
... tried ATK's blender recipe -- the result was too sweet; I don't prefer recipes which rely on sweetened condensed milk, as I prefer total control of the sugar variables; the best take away ... blender use during preparation is game changer
... presently, adapting recipes from Salt & Straw <youtube.com/watch?v=c9YIv-4SfPw>, with influence from Anna Olsen (Oh Yum) -- Salt & Straw provides solid ingredient ratios, and Anna Olson demonstrates cooking not required for both ice cream & gelato
... from all these cited sources, milk powder used (or sometimes corn starch) to optimize texture (i.e. reduce ice crystals)


Salt & Straw recipe scaled up x1.125 to achieve 4 cup (1 qt) target base volume; also, used aqua-calc.com for conversion from cups & tablespoons to ounces & grams:
+ whole milk - 1.50 c | 14.53 oz | 412 g
+ granulated sugar - 0.56 c | 4.46 oz | 127 g
+ light corn syrup
- 2.25 tblsp | 1.82 oz | 52 g
+ dry milk powder
- 2.25 tblsp | 0.70 oz | 20 g
+ xanthan gum
- OMITTED (base not cooked)
+ heavy cream - 1.50 c | 14.18 oz | 402 g

method:
1) steep coffee in milk -- 12 to 24 hours in refrigerator
2) strain coffee grounds from milk; add back any milk absorbed by coffee grounds during steep, to restore target volume/weight
3) add sugar, syrup, milk powder to coffee-infused milk; blend to dissolve sugar (TIPS: use a blender, for quick results; substitute same weight of ultra-fine/caster sugar for granulated for easiest dissolve)
4) whip heavy cream to soft peaks (using a blender, for quick results); fold whipped cream into coffee-infused milk mixture to create final ice cream base; if you kept ingredients cold & base is close 40 F, then you may churn immediately; otherwise, return base to refrigerator and chill to 40 F
5) churn chilled base with ice cream maker until 21 F -- about 20 minutes


GRIND SIZE:
+ grind size matters -- before adding coffee grounds to dairy, have a good plan to later remove them; produce a large coffee grind so the spent grounds are easily strained after steeping
OPINION: steeping whole beans is a waste of coffee product, so always grind the beans for an effective extraction; as with every coffee brew, a barista controls coffee flavor intensity via brew ratio (i.e. the coffee to liquid ratio), grind size, steep time & temperature; in an ice cream application, one can choose to steep either hot (quickly) or cold (slowly) -- all other variables being equal, cold extraction is less acidic (i.e. less bitter) vs. hot.

COFFEE GRINDER:
+ burr grinder -- the best grinding method so you can select a specific grind size; choose your burr grinder's largest setting for this purpose
NOTE: depending on the quality of your grinder with largest grind size selected, if you start with 50g whole coffee beans, you might produce ~50% / 25g large grind, ~40% / 20g medium grind, ~10% / 5g fines

COFFEE SIFTING:
NOTE: acquire at least two different types: medium mesh, and fine mesh
1) first sift: all ground coffee with medium mesh -- what does not pass through medium mesh is a consistent large grind; set aside
2) second sift: remaining ground coffee with fine mesh -- what does not pass through fine mesh is a consistent medium grind; set aside
3) what coffee grinds remain after both siftings will likely resemble a powder -- a/k/a fines; keep these out of your ice cream base, or you'll risk an uncontrolled texture & flavor result
NOTE: potential uses for remaining coffee "fines" are as optional ice cream toppings when serving; e.g. cooked into a robust chocolate sauce, or dry as a sprinkled garnish

COLD-BREW EXTRACTION:
... review this excellent coffee cold-brew survey by European Coffee Trip -- here one is informed about recommended cold-brew ratios, brew times, and extraction methods; all of these variables are transferrable to coffee extraction into dairy for coffee ice cream; in their summary, they identify the following key variables:
+ coffee bean
varietal
+ cold-brew recipe (i.e. brew ratio; 1 : 15 "ready to drink" -- or 1 : 6 "concentrate")
+ extraction method

COFFEE EXTRACTION (a/k/a steeping):
+ for a relatively mild coffee flavor: steep only the large grinds in your dairy; or for a stronger coffee flavor, also steep the medium grinds; periodically & gently stir during steep, and avoid aggressive agitation so coffee grinds do not break apart
+ remove ground coffee before churning: first pour your ice cream base through a medium mesh strainer, next through a fine mesh strainer; let gravity strain the dairy with some gentle shaking; so coffee grinds do not break apart, avoid aggressive pressure on the spent grounds in the strainer
NOTE: as Salt & Straw recommends, I never cook cream as heat alters the dairy fat

... I elected to apply a coffee cold-brew extraction technique to the milk portion of the ice cream base recipe; e.g. from recipe above, steeped 1.5 c milk w/ ground coffee, refrigerated, during an extended period (e.g. 12-24 hours)
... I elected a roughly 1:9 brew ratio; e.g. started w/ 50g coffee for 412 g milk
-- I used both the large & medium grinds during steep (recall: ~10% of the ground coffee is sifted out as "fines")

[ibrshhassh]

I tried your recipe, it's really amazing, thank you.👍

[christinaarecy]

Question; would you be able to provide the link to the coffee strainer please? There was no mention of it in the blog or the video. Please and thank you

[iROBODUDE]

Stumbled onto your channel because I just bought my wife a Whynter for xmas. Love the channel and great production value with informative information for sure. I have watched many of the videos so far and am going down the ice cream playlist. The only thing that I wish you would have done is tasted the fruits of your labor on camera. Youtube is a visual portal and for us to see you taste it would take your channel to the next level. Just my 2 cents. I only have 10k subs. You guys are great together. Enjoy.

[alyssarivera]

Do you use whole eggs? Or just the yolk?

[rusim]

how many cups/spoons is 45 grams of coffee? thank you!

[snicklefritz]

Private selection coffee icecream is by far best yu should try!

[AdventuresofCarlienne]

What do you think you will try making? Whole bean or fresh ground coffee ice cream?

[knightsofneeech]

Thank you I like your video! Just some constructive criticism, from somebody like me who is trying to emulate your recipe, start off at the beginning with explaining what equipment you are using for example I don't use a sous vide machine and I don't use an ice cream machine. I was looking for recipes using a beater. Your recipe looks great only it wouldn't work for me because I didn't know that up front. Hope this helps! I will look for more of your videos

[KingOrton]

If it has eggs in it it's not ice cream custard

[elm]

I am looking for a very rich and sweet coffee Ice cream I'm tired of the store brand because it's never rich