No-Churn Coffee & cookie ice cream
It's National Ice Cream Day! And as a lover of all things ice cream I wanted to share this delicious coffee-cookie concoction that I came up with not too long ago. Let me first say that if you're not a fan of coffee-flavored desserts, I suggest you look away now, as this ice cream is dedicated to all the coffee lovers out there.
I really appreciate the simplistic beauty of no-churn ice cream. This appreciation especially rings true during those times where the craving for ice cream hits immediately and I'm in no position to bust out my ice cream machine. I still can't get over the fact that it really only takes 2 ingredients to make a glorious batch of creamy ice cream. All you really need to worry about is what kind of extra toppings you're going to toss into the mix. This recipe in particular fuses my two loves: coffee and chocolate. I really wanted to achieve a deep coffee flavor in this ice cream, so I infused my heavy cream overnight with ground coffee beans and voilà: I ended up with a flavorful coffee base that was begging to be turned into ice cream.
Crushed Oreos and caramel also made it into this recipe. I had both on hand and I really couldn't imagine a coffee ice cream with out a little chocolate. As far as the caramel goes, I think the recipe works well with or with out it. So if you don't have any available, I promise that the coffee and cookies will taste just as lovely.
No-churn coffee ice cream
2 cups heavy cream, plus a bit extra
½ cup coarsely ground coffee beans
1 ¼ cups crushed Oreos, about 12 or so
1 can sweetened condensed milk
pinch kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla
Caramel, optional
Method
The night before, make the coffee infused base. Add the heavy cream and ground coffee beans to a sealable bowl or jar. Mix/shake the cream and coffee beans a bit until well combined. Place the covered bowl or sealed jar in the refrigerator and let infuse overnight.
Strain the infused cream into a measuring cup, and add as much heavy cream as needed to measure out 2 cups.
Add the condensed milk and 1 cup of the crushed cookies to a large bowl, and fold together until combined.
In the bowl of a standing mixer add the 2 cups of infused heavy cream, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold the cookie mixture and a small portion of the whipped cream together to lighten it up. Add the remaining amount of whipped cream and fold until just combined.
Pour mixture into either in a 9×5” loaf pan and sprinkle with the top of the ice cream with the remaining crushed cookies. * NOTE, if using caramel, pour half of the ice cream into the pan and drizzle with some caramel. Add the remaining whipped cream and drizzle with a little more caramel and topped with the remaining crushed cookies.
Tightly wrap the pan with plastic wrap making sure that 1 layer actually touches the ice cream this will help prevent crystallization. Wrap a second layer around the first and place ice cream in freezer until solid, about 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove ice cream from freezer about 15 minutes before serving, this will help it soften just a bit. Serve as is, or with a light garnish of crushed graham crackers.