Coffee-inspired Summer Sweet Treat
If you are looking for the perfect Summer sweet treat and you love coffee as much as I do, I may have found the perfect solution for you! Although this Summer hasn’t been the warmest, I have spent the majority of it feeling like it’s too hot for normal food and I've had to get creative with my meal plans. Instead of making up heavy lunches or cooking up a storm for dinner, this week I have opted for something a little bit sweeter and a lot cooler - I’m talking ice cream.
Now, I’m not usually an ice cream connoisseur and therefore do not own an ice cream maker or have any special tools for the job. So when I had a hankering for some coffee flavoured ice cream, I was slightly unprepared. However, after checking through different recipes, I found an excellent one provided by Nigella, which hit the spot perfectly. If you would like to check it out, follow this link here: bit.ly/45dOneb
The original recipe made 1 ½ pints of ice cream and I only wanted to make a pint. I adjusted the measurements to suit my needs and came up with some scrumptious ice cream that did not disappoint! First, I went shopping for my ingredients. I decided to go with Tia Maria for my espresso liqueur as it's described as good all around; and some Nescafe Gold Blend Instant Espresso Powder. The coffee powder was delicious and quite a bit of it was taste tested before going in the ice cream. Then I measured all my ingredients; I used 200 ml of double cream, 90 ml of condensed milk, 4 teaspoons of instant espresso powder and 20 ml of espresso liqueur. After measuring it was literally as simple as mixing it all together. Easy Peasy!
As described in Nigella’s recipe, I whisked all of my ingredients together until the mixture started to lift and became nice and light. I wanted to include some chocolate chips into the mix to complement the coffee's rich flavour but decided that I would keep it simple for my first try. I popped it in the freezer overnight and voila.
When enjoying our efforts the next day, I even added a sprinkle of coffee grounds to the top of my ice cream for that slightly crunchy texture - which I would highly recommend. Though, be careful not to add too much, as too many grounds make the end result taste rather similar to a beach trip sandwich - grainy!
There are plenty of things that work well with coffee flavoured ice cream, but a few of my favourites would definitely be chopped nuts, caramel sauce or even some delicious cookie dough chunks! Definitely worth a try and easy to experiment with. Have a play and let us know if you have any other combination tips!