Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate? Strawberry? Something unique like brown butter candied bacon? Or maybe just good old vanilla?

I am totally crazy about ice cream. I eat them all the time! Growing up, some of my favorite flavors are chocolate, taro and coffee. I don’t drink much coffee, and of course I didn’t drink any when I was young. But I am always drawn to coffee ice cream, especially the charcoal roasted coffee ice cream popsicle from Appolo (Hong Kong brand). It is rich, creamy, and buttery with a hint of roasting coffee flavor. Absolutely irresistible!

With that said, I really wanted to make my own coffee ice cream. Bryan’s favorite coffee is Vietnamese coffee. Strong and sweetened. This ice cream is exactly like that. Rich, dense, and smooth with an intense coffee flavor. This recipe is very easy and it doesn’t have any egg yolk. There are only creamy and milk, but it is really rich. Combine everything together in a pot and cook for a little bit. Strain out the ground coffee. That is it. The mixture is ready to be churned. If you are a coffee lover, this will be your favorite ice cream from now on! Enjoy!

Next week, I will be off. My parents are coming in town today for my sister’s graduation. Then we will be traveling to Yosemite for a few days. Follow me on Instagram (@missinglokness) and Snapchat (@missinglokness) and come with me to the latest adventure! Let’s hope we will have internet access! 🙂

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

1 quart

Ingredients:

–  14 ounces evaporated milk

–  13 ounces sweetened condensed milk

–  1½ cups heavy whipping cream

–  2 ounces ground dark-roast coffee

–  1½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract

–  large pinch of kosher salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, set a fine-meshed strainer over and cover with a cheesecloth or coffee filter. Set aside.
2. In a medium pot, combine evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, ground coffee, vanilla bean paste and salt. Cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to steam and there are tiny bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 – 6 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture into the prepared cheesecloth. Stain and squeeze out all the liquid. Let cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Transfer into an airtight container. Cool in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
4. Pour the cold mixture into the ice cream machine and follow the machine instruction. Once the ice cream is ready, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container. Press a sheet of parchment paper directly against the surface of the ice cream. Close with a lid. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Scoop and serve.

Tips:

1. There are a few brands of sweetened condensed milk. Each brand actually tastes slightly different. My favorite is the Longevity Brand. Get it from Chinese or Vietnamese supermarket or Amazon.
2. Our favorite ground coffee for Vietnamese coffee is Trung Nguyen. Get it from Chinese or Vietnamese supermarket or Amazon. If not, you can use French roast medium grind.

(Adapted from The Splendid Table)