Joe Cone

I’ve always enjoyed the smell of coffee. I haven’t always enjoyed the taste. That came more slowly.

My dad was the only coffee drinker in my family. My mom, being a canuck, drank tea. The only nod my mom made toward the coffee drinkers of the world, which didn’t include any of us at the time, was coffee cloud sponge cake which had coffee both in the batter and the icing. It was sweet and rich and, despite its overall “coffee-ness,” delicious.

It was also what some people might call a gateway drug.

I wasn’t a huge sponge cake fan, preferring angel food cake to all others—then, now and forever. My older brother, however, chose coffee cloud sponge cake as his birthday cake every year. In retrospect, it was inevitable that he would be the first to fall under coffee’s sway. It could probably also have been foreseen that he would drag me down with him at some point.

I still remember my first time.

I was out in Westwood with my brother (Yes, that one.) watching the Lakers head toward another championship. After the game, he ordered us both an espresso and, having had a few drinks already, I was ripe for the slaughter. All I remember was the pulse of energy flowing through my limbs.  I would later grow to loathe the caffeine exaggerated muscle tension I felt that night. But at the time it was brand new and exciting. Just like a drug.

I put off succumbing to coffee completely for a few more years and only pretended to enjoy it  as an after dinner ritual with friends. Once I got married, it found its way into my morning routine and even into social situations once Starbucks started making coffee cloud sponge cake flavored frappes. And once we had children, the need for extra stimulants, if not stimuli, became even more pronounced.

Our children have yet to have had any coffee cloud sponge cake, and have instead jumped straight to the hard stuff. Almost. They’re always begging to have mochas or frappuccinos, decaf, of course, as they both already know how to pick their battles. Besides, I’m not a pusher.

Still, I give into the whining once in a while, especially if I’m indulging myself.

This week’s ice cream is just one more of these indulgences. When it was my youngest’s turn to pick the flavor of the week, she went straight to coffee. It’s decaf again, so there’s no worry there, but this is a kid who’s already on the fast track towards dependency issues.

Unfortunately, this week’s ice cream will do nothing to curb this growing desire for all things coffee-flavored. The rich, sweet taste and the smooth, light consistency of this ice cream quickly made this new recipe one of the all-time favorites.

It’s probably not something that will find its way into your own morning ritual. But it is definitely something worth staying up late for.

Coffee Ice Cream
(about 2 quarts)
1 ½ cup milk
¾ cup sugar
2 T flour
A few grains salt
2 eggs or 3 yolks (pasteurized, if possible, see note)
1 ½ cup cream
½ cup coffee syrup
Coffee Syrup
            ¾ cup water
2 t instant coffee, decaf (Please people, there are kids present.)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 T coffee

1. Heat milk to 180-190ºF with sugar, flour and salt, stirring until thick, cover for 10 minutes.
2. Beat eggs and add ½ cup of mixture while beating, then add eggs to mixture.

HEALTH NOTE:     Since you’re dealing with eggs here, you need to take care when cooking the custard. Too much cooking and the custard gets lumpy, too little and you risk salmonella.  Another alternative is to use pasteurized eggs.

1. Heat the mixture for one minute over medium, then cool with plastic wrap or wax paper pressed onto the top of the mixture to keep it from developing a skin. Cool for several hours or overnight.
2. In the meantime, make coffee syrup by combining instant coffee with a cup of granulated sugar. I made the coffee a little stronger too, adding two teaspoons to the ¾ cup of boiling water. Then I rounded out the taste by adding a cup of granulated sugar and an additional two tablespoons of brewed coffee.
3. Add the cream and the coffee syrup to the cooled custard mix, and freeze. (This week, instead of freezing in the ice cream freezer for twenty-five minutes, I let it go at least an extra ten minutes. Somehow this produced ice cream that was both a lot lighter and a lot smoother. I heartily recommend you do the same.
4. For firmer ice cream, place the frozen custard in the freezer until it achieves the desired consistency.

NOTE:     When freezing ice cream, you need to use an ice cream freezer to ensure that a certain amount of air is mixed into the frozen cream. This gives it a lighter, less icy consistency. When freezing sorbet, you may also freeze it in a popsicle mold, a bowl or on a sheet pan. Be sure to stir the mixture occasionally to limit the size of the ice particles. Larger chunks of ice make for granita, miniscule chunks make for a nice smooth sorbet (an ice cream freezer is ideal).

Photo Credit: “Joe Cone,” composed by the author. 

Where do you go for your coffee? McDonald’s? Starbucks? Peets? Caribou? Or some local favorite? Do you buy specialty coffee or the stuff in the cans? Will the quality of coffee affect the quality of this ice cream? Probably, but I used Sanka Instant decaf and it turned out great. Let me know if better coffee or caffeinated beans make the recipe even better. As usual, put any details you want to share in the comments section.