coffee ice cream

Make the best coffee ice cream at home! This extra creamy ice cream base gets a cold brew infusion with freshly cracked espresso beans for the smoothest, richest coffee flavor. Like a sweet cappuccino!

Why I love it:

This ice cream is out of this world delicious. It tastes like a luscious scoop of a frozen cappuccino-- lightly sweetened and extra creamy.

I use cold brew coffee as the inspiration and infuse the custard with freshly cracked coffee beans. The resulting ice cream is rich, roasty toasty, and indulgently creamy without any of the bitterness of hot brewed coffee.

If you love the fragrance of coffee, you’ll be obsessed with this cold brew coffee ice cream!

coffee ice cream ingredients:

how to make coffee ice cream:

1. Place coffee beans in a resealable plastic bag and crack them into small pieces with a rolling pin.
2. Combine sugar and milk powder; set aside. Whisk together cornstarch and a splash of milk; set aside.
3. Bring remaining milk, cream, corn syrup, and salt to a boil.
4. Whisk in milk powder/ sugar mixture and boil for 2 minutes.
5. Whisk in cornstarch slurry and simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes.
6. Transfer to a large bowl, mix in coffee beans and vanilla.
7. Chill over an ice bath, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
8. Strain through a fine sieve; discard crushed coffee beans.
9. Churn in an ice cream maker until a soft-serve consistency.
10. Serve as is, or transfer to an airtight container and freeze.
11. Enjoy!

what makes this the best coffee ice cream:

Eggless: Eggs give a specific custardy flavor to ice cream that I love-- with certain flavors. But here, I feel the pure milky flavor of the base keeps the focus on the rich coffee. The ice cream tastes like a sweet and delicate cappuccino. 

Cold-brew infusion: Cold-brew coffee is smoother, less acidic, and significantly less bitter. The slow extraction at cold temperatures changes what is infused, and that’s just as important in ice cream as it is in your cup of joe. We use freshly cracked coffee (or espresso) beans and add them to the chilled base to soak overnight. The flavor is so rich and so smooth!

Ultra-creamy: Lusciously smooth eggless ice cream is a bit of a science. We use corn syrup, cornstarch, and dry milk to make up for the incredible egg. Corn syrup lowers the freezer point and makes a soft, scoopable consistency. Cornstarch soaks up water and forms a gel when cooked, so the water molecules stay in place (small, separate, “stabilized”). This means extra-smooth ice cream with no big ice crystals. Dry milk powder is an emulsifier that helps to bind up water and fat so the ice crystals stay small and imperceptible on your tongue (translation = ultra-creamy ice cream).

24-hour soak: This plays two important roles. For one, the long chill gives the coffee beans plenty of time to infuse into the custard. We also want the base to chill completely and “cure, " setting the stage for the creamiest and most luscious frozen texture.

Can be caffeine-free! Just use decaf coffee beans for all the rich flavor and none of the caffeine! This makes it great for kids and anyone who wants to go to bed after dessert.

flavor variations and mix-ins:

Take your homemade coffee ice cream to the next level with fun mix-ins and super delicious ways to serve it!

• Coffee Oreo ice cream: add ½ cup crushed Oreos in the last few minutes of churning
• Coffee chip ice cream: add ½ cup chopped chocolate bits in the last few minutes of churning
• Brownie bits: add ½ cup chopped brownie chunks in the last few minutes of churning
• Salted almond: mix in chopped ¼ salted almonds in the last few minutes of churning
• Caramel swirl: Drizzle in caramel sauce in the last few minutes of churning
• Drizzle with hot fudge or dip in magic chocolate shell
• Milkshake: blend it up with chilled coffee (and a splash of Kahlua?)
• Brownie coffee ice cream sandwich!
• Make a coffee float: cold brew coffee topped with a scoop of coffee ice cream
• Add a hazelnut twist: chop up ½ cup roasted hazelnuts and infuse them with the coffee beans
• Cinnamon coffee: add 2 broken cinnamon sticks to the milk, before cooking
• Double coffee: add 1 tsp ground espresso powder to the milk, before cooking
• Irish cream: replace the coffee liqueur with Irish Cream liqueur
• Affogato: Pour over a hot shot of espresso for a coffee affogato

We infuse the custard with real coffee beans, which releases all the flavor (and caffeine) into the base.

If you don’t want caffeine in your ice cream, use decaffeinated coffee beans. Yes, decaf beans are a thing! Green coffee beans are put through a genius water-soaking method that removes at least 97% of their caffeine and none of the flavor. Then they’re roasted to develop all the delicious toasty flavors.

Your ice cream will have all the rich, complex coffee notes without the buzz!

Here’s a great list of decaf coffee bean brands that taste as good as the unadulterated beans!

more ice cream recipes to try:

black walnut ice cream

buttermilk ice cream

cookie butter ice cream

lavender ice cream

mint chocolate chip ice cream

no-churn oatmeal ice cream

pistachio ice cream

pumpkin ice cream

stracciatella ice cream

rum raisin ice cream

toasted coconut ice cream

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