Espresso Gelato
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
I love coffee ice cream, but lately I wanted something with a stronger coffee flavor than you usually find in most store-bought ice creams. I’ve made ice cream with reduced espresso and espresso powder, but I really wanted to bring the coffee flavor to the next level—to eleven, naturally.
There are a number of recipes that use coffee grounds, and the key to using coffee grounds is to use very coarsely ground coffee. A fine sieve or chinois is also very useful, but some tiny grounds can still pass through. Fortunately, each time you pour the gelato base from one container to another, fine coffee grounds are left behind. I also opted for a more gelato-like dairy base in this recipe by using twice as much milk as cream.
I also added some espresso powder to add more coffee flavor since too much coffee grounds can be overpowering. This gelato is definitely for the coffee lover, but you can also reduce or eliminate the coffee grounds and replace with 2 tablespoons of espresso powder to produce a milder flavor.
Ingredients for making Espresso Gelato.
Add 1/4 cup of very coarsely ground espresso coffee grounds to 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of whole milk.
Add 1 tablespoon of espresso powder.
Heat mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently until simmering. Remove from heat.
Pour mixture through a chinois or sieve to filter out coffee grounds.
With mixer on low, slowly add 3/4 cup of sugar to 5 egg yolks. Increase speed and beat until color lightens and mixture is fluffy.
With mixer on low, slowly pour the hot cream mixture into the beaten egg yolks and sugar.
Return custard base to saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture reaches about 165° F.
Pour mixture through chinois or sieve again to strain out any egg bits. Place in ice bath.
Once the gelato base is no longer hot, add 1 tablespoon of Kahlúa and stir to mix. Continue chilling until it reaches 45° F or colder.
Pour gelato base into ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Transfer gelato to dedicated, odor-free container and let ripen in the freezer for several hours before serving
The recipe pictured above, with detailed instructions and photo gallery can be found on the Espresso Gelato recipe page.
