Ice cream castles in the summertime
When I was younger I loved Prince and the Revolution and Morris Day and the Time. One of my favorite songs in the summer of 1984 was “Ice Cream Castles” this song was cool, smooth and a whole mood back then. This no churn ice cream is the same thing for me this summer.
I had been seeing no churn ice cream pop up all over social media for a while now but couldn’t really figure out what the hype was all about. I would just look at a post, like or scroll past to the next. So as summer was approaching I decided I wanted to go back into my culinary knowledge bank and make some infused ice cream but wait, I didn’t have an ice cream machine. Ugh, the agony of not having the necessary tools. That’s when I decided to investigate no churn ice cream. I discovered this was a magical concoction of unsweetened whipped cream, sweetened condensed milk, a little salt to enhance the flavors and whatever add-ins you want to make it yours.
When I was in culinary school we made the most incredible whisky ice cream. In my mind I wanted to recreate this delicious treat since my favorite ice cream shop near me didn’t always carry it. I said to myself how, so first I came across The Chunky Chef recipe and mind blown by the ease of it all. I bumped up my whisky a bit and added some toasted pecans and was in heaven. After that first batch I was hooked and on a roll.
Next I decided to switch it up a bit and venture onto the dark side when I saw Lion’s Bread recipe for coffee cookies and cream no churn ice cream. My mind was blown when I read her recipe and I immediately went to creating my own concoction. This time I was inspired by the cocktail, Mudslide. I steeped my coffee in my cream as she suggested but went a little heavier on the coffee, think espresso almost. After I strained my cream I whipped it up to stiff peeks I chopped some blanched almonds, added toffee bits and 2 oz of vanilla Vodka and 1 oz of Kahlua. This ice cream is intense and not for the faint of heart.
After I made the ice cream I was like why not take it a step further and make homemade ice cream sandwiches too. You can see how I made those here. In the mean time here is the recipe for this intense espresso toffee almond crunch ice cream.
Espresso Toffee Almond Crunch no-churn ice cream
Heavy Whipping Cream 2 cups
Instant dark roast coffee 1 tbs
Cafe du Monde ground coffee 1/4 cup
Vanilla Extract 1 tsp
Coffee Extract 1 tsp
Sweetened condensed milk 11 oz
Heath toffee bits 1/2 cup
Blanched almonds 1/2 cup
Vanilla Vodka 2 oz
Kahlua 1 oz
Directions
in a medium sized bowl, combine the cream, instant coffee, and coarsely ground coffee. Stir to combine, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate over night.
Strain the cream, removing the coffee grounds, with a fine mesh sieve or cheese cloth. Beat the cream with an electric hand mixer, or in a stand mixer, until stiff peaks forms.
In a large bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and 1/2 cup of toffee bits, almonds and both alcohol and stir to incorporate. Add about 1 cup of the whipped coffee cream to the bowl, and gently fold in to lighten up the mixture. Add the remaining whipped cream and gently fold in. Pour the ice cream into a 9x5 loaf pan. Wrap the pan tightly with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic is touching the top of the ice cream. This removes all the air, and helps prevent ice crystals from forming. Freeze for at least 6 hours.
