Coffee Chocolate Ice Cream

   This is a adaptation of some coffee ice cream recipes I have seen. I really like coffee ice  cream but have a hard time bringing myself to pay the price of Hagen-Daz or Starbucks coffee ice cream. My favorite flavor of Starbucks has the chocolate chunks in it, hence the shaved chocolate and I think the Kahlua* really adds to the flavor and keeps it from setting up so hard. If you like coffee ice creams, this really, really is good.

It never lasts more than a day as I share it with my other coffee ice cream friends and now Lyle has decided that he likes it also. Oh, well, it is easy to make and cheaper than the store bought.

  Try shaving the chocolate with your vegetable peeler. You could chunk it, but my freezer works better with the shaved and we like it better that way.

Coffee Chocolate Ice Cream

Yield: 1 1/2  Quarts

Ingredients

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon instant espresso (I used instant coffee)

⅛ teaspoon salt

2 cups whole milk

1 cup whipping cream

1 egg yolk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

1 ounce semisweet chocolate shaved (use your vegetable peeler to shave)

 ½ tablespoon Kahlua, optional 

 Whisk together first 4 ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk and whipping cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 10 to 12 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

  Pour about one cup of the hot mixture into the lightly beaten egg yolk. Add yolk mixture to remaining cream mixture, whisking constantly. Whisk in vanilla. Cool one hour, stirring occasionally.   Place plastic wrap directly on cream mixture, and chill 8 to 24 hours. Stir in the Kahlua before pouring into the freezer container and stir together.

  Pour chilled cream mixture into freezer container and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Last five minutes add the shaved or chunked chocolate

*You can buy small sample bottles of Kahula and try it without having to buy a large bottle.