Coffee Ice Cream
Need an extra boost of caffeine? How about a bowl of Coffee Ice Cream?
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Oh, hey there. Feeling a little tired this morning? Totally understandable. Not only is it Monday, but we also had Daylight Savings Time to deal with over the weekend. I love me some Daylight Savings Time in the Fall…extra hour! Wooo! But in the Spring? Bah. I want my hour back. It might not seem like much, but that measly little hour wreaks havoc on our sleep schedule. And of course it has to happen in the middle of the night, right?
Truth be told, our sleep schedule is all out of wack these days. Little Robbie is almost 4 months old now, and he’s doing great. But Mom and Dad are struggling with finding our schedule still. Sometimes he goes down for bed at 7:45pm. Other times it’s 9pm. Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night for a snack. Other times he sleeps til 5:30am or 6am. I’m told he will find his routine here soon, but man, it’s rough when you never know what the day/night is going to look like. As a result, you can often find us in bed reading as early 8pm…and asleep shortly thereafter. Hey, we gotta get sleep when you can! (Also, when did we become so old?)
So the whole ‘spring forward’ part of Daylight Savings Time didn’t affect us as much this year. (I say this as I am hopped up on strong coffee and wondering if it’s acceptable to take a little cat nap at my desk.)
Daylight Savings Time is such a strange event. I get why we do it and all. The extra daylight in the summer sure is nice. (Heck, in the middle of the summer, it’s still light outside when we go to bed…and that was before the 8pm bedtimes thanks to a certain little baby.) But it’s still strange. Did you know that Arizona doesn’t follow Daylight Savings Time? Their clocks might not change, but I gotta think that’s really confusing as the clocks in the rest of the country do change. *shrug*
In honor of losing that ever-so-valuable hour of sleep over the weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to post a coffee-inspired recipe today. Coffee has long been one of my favorite flavors of ice cream. In fact, coffee ice cream is what got me to start liking coffee. Back in college, I didn’t care for coffee. But I found that I really liked coffee ice cream. That evolved into coffee desserts, like tiramisu or this tiramisu cake. That soon evolved into regular coffee. And now I like my morning cup o’ joe strong.
I mentioned last week how I was out at a curling tournament recently. The coffee in the hotel was simply dark water masquerading as the real thing. And, woah, did I have a hard time waking up each morning! (Of course, I’m sure the fact that we were going to bed somewhere around 2am didn’t affect the morning drowsiness at all…)
When I told my wife that I made coffee ice cream in honor of the Daylight Savings Time switch, she got mad at me. She said I had it all wrong. Her argument was that folks want ice cream at night, but after the time switch, you’re tired and want to go to bed earlier. The caffeine in the coffee ice cream would prevent that much-needed sleep. I just looked at her. My argument: eat coffee ice cream for breakfast.
What are your thoughts on Daylight Savings Time?
Coffee ice cream for breakfast: yay or nay?
Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup strongly brewed coffee
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the coffee in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until it reduces to about ½ cup. (~10 minutes) Set reduced coffee aside.
- Place the milk in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low until it just begins to simmer.
- While the milk is heating, whisk together the salt, sugar and egg yolks in a medium bowl. Gradually pour the hot milk into the egg yolks; whisking vigorously the entire time.
- Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens noticeably and coats a wooden spoon. (~4-5 minutes) (Note: If you have a kitchen thermometer, the target temperature is 180°F. Do not allow mixture to boil.)
- Remove mixture from heat and add the heavy cream, vanilla extract and reduced coffee; stir until well combined. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly onto the surface of the mixture, and refrigerate overnight.
- Pour the ice cream mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions.
- (Optional) If you desire a firmer ice cream, transfer the finished ice cream into the freezer for a couple of hours.
Coffee for breakfast sound good. Coffee ice cream for breakfast…now we’re talking 🙂 I love when getting extra light during the day, but it’s tough getting up early when it’s completely dark.
Exactly! All I want is my morning cup of coffee…it just happens to be in ice cream form this time. That isn’t so bad is it? 🙂 But yes, the pitch dark wake-up calls are the worst! And just when you thought you were getting there after the dark winter mornings, too…but we’re almost there, Linda!
YASSSSS- I say I’ll double up on my Lactaid pills and double up on coffee ice cream for breakfast! Though – I wouldn’t mind it for dinner – errr, I mean AFTER dinner either! I’m usually not crazy about daylight savings time – but yesterday I was outside weeding till 8pm and sure appreciated the extra light – though I wish I had had a bowl of this to unwind with, after (lucky for me, caffeine doesn’t keep me up at night).
Gosh – Robbie is 4 months already? Time sure is flying eh?! Hang in there Dude, things will fall into a routine – especially when he starts eating solids! Happy Monday my friend!
That’s why they make Lactaid pills, right, Shashi? I mean they wouldn’t make ’em if there wasn’t the possibility of coffee ice cream on a Monday morning right after Daylight Savings Time. 🙂 Wait…you were happy to be out weeding til 8pm last night? If that is how you define happy, then I have a whole yard of happiness up here. Come on up and be happy!
I say eat coffee ice cream ANY time! Breakfast too! This would be so good in an ice cream pie 🙂
Now you’re talking, Johlene! Who says ice cream should be limited to dessert only? 🙂 And yes, this would make a great ice cream pie…hmmm, the wheels upstairs are turning (slowly and with much creaking)…
Hi David! Gary would be all over this! He HAS to have ice cream in the freezer at all times. Coming from a large family in the post WWII era (he’s the oldest of eight children) they didn’t get many desserts so I attribute that to his love of all things desserts. More accurately I should say his love of all food! 🙂
Ah yes, I’m pretty sure I’m a blend of you and Gary when it comes to food choices! Ice cream is a must for sure! I love making my own ice cream, but even if I don’t have any homemade stuff around, you can be sure that there will be a carton of ice cream still in the fridge. 🙂
yes feeling extra tired this morning…I really need this ice cream in my life to deal with the Monday blues today! looks great David!
Tell me about it, Manali! Yesterday was a loooong, tired day. Coffee ice cream is a requirement on long, tired days! 🙂
I’m so glad you arrived at the idea of breakfast coffee! I’m with you on that one!
Ah yes, I am so glad I have your support on this topic, Jeff. Perhaps a nice, strong double shot of espresso to start the day today? 🙂
Yes, I’ll have a shot with two scoops of this ice cream. Thank you.
Finally, there’s an excuse to eat ice cream for breakfast!
With the day light saving I like to drive to work with the sunshine and a little more daylight when I got home.
I hear ya about the extra daylight at night, Rahul…it’s great! But that first day or two of trying to adjust is just not fun at all. That’s where the coffee ice cream comes in to help! 🙂
Gah, poor Robbie! Or rather, poor mum and dad!
Seeing as this recipe has coffee in it, it’s acceptable for breakfast. Breakfast ice cream.
OMG. Throwback to perhaps a year ago to this day when I told you I’d invest in an ice cream maker….
Yeah, Mum and Dad are having a bit of a rough go at it right now, mate. Mom was home sick yesterday, and Dad has been sick since, well, November. But the real question is…did you ever invest in that ice cream maker?? (I know you can make this recipe by just freezing the ice cream in a bowl and stirring it every 30 minutes or so for a couple of hours…but who has time for that??)
I think I could get on board with eating coffee ice cream for breakfast! I actually don’t drink coffee because it gives me a headache and somehow makes me feel zingy yet sleepy (don’t ask!), but I really like coffee ice cream. And you’re right, this morning I had a really tough time getting my butt out of bed! Just an hour really throws you off for the first few days… I’m hitting an afternoon lull at the moment, zZzZz!
Yeah, I think I would avoid coffee too if it not only made me tired but also gave me a headache. Bah on that! But yes, coffee ice cream is the very first reason I started to like coffee (I had always liked the smell of roasted coffee beans, though…). That hour will be nice when the summer evenings arrive, but man are we paying for it right now! Hang in there, Nicole! 🙂
I like the idea of coffee ice cream for breakfast, sounds really good to me. Your ice cream looks really creamy and yummy. Before you know it Robbie will be sleeping through the night and have a set schedule.
Oh, I can’t wait until he gets a set schedule. He sleeps through the night now, but the last 3-4 hours are a lot of rustling and twisting around. Soon enough he’ll just pass out through that phase, and then we’ll be better…as long as Mom and Dad aren’t both sick like we were this past weekend. Hah! Coffee ice cream for breakfast is a requirement on days like that. Thanks, Dawn!
Oh boy, this Daylight Savings Time! We had it last weekend too, and now it’s so dark and confusing again at 7 a.m. But there’s one good thing about that – soon I will be able to use the natural light to shoot, after work. That’s not so bad, right? In a meanwhile, I’m going to have this delicious ice cream (with a good drizzle of maple syrup) to handle such an issue. Well done, David!
Tell me about it, Ben! I hate the dark and confusing 7am world. But then again, I love the bright and fun 8pm world in the middle of the summer…so I guess this is worth it. And that extra hour in the Fall sure is nice, too! Oh, maple syrup on coffee? I like where you are going here, Ben. That might need to happen. For breakfast. Right now. 🙂
seeing as this has coffee in it, I can have it for breakfast, yes?!
We haven’t lost our hour yet here in the UK, but it;s coming soon. I never knew that about Arizona, how odd.
Uh, of course you can have it for breakfast, Dannii…it does involve coffee after all! I didn’t realize you guys did the Daylight Savings Time thing over there in the UK. But since it hasn’t happened yet, that means you have time to make a batch of coffee ice cream to be ready for that sleepy morning! 🙂
I love coffee ice cream! I have an ice cream maker on it’s way to me and I’m excited to try and make some healthy versions of ice cream and frozen yogurt. I’m being forced into some dietary changes, so have a healthy (I hope) sweetener coming also, so I’m looking forward to some experimenting.
Awesome! So glad you have an ice cream maker on it’s way, Cathy! I’ve had so much fun over the years playing around with different ice cream flavors…but this coffee one ranks up there near the top of the list for sure! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do…err, did. 🙂
Yum! Can’t go wrong with coffee ice cream!
I couldn’t agree more! Thank you co much for stopping by and commenting! 🙂
This ice cream looks seriously fabulous! I like coffee in just about everything, so I definitely love this 🙂
Thanks so much, Medha…being in college totally give you a legit excuse to reach for an extra scoop, too! 🙂
this looks seriously heavenly!
and your pictures are simply beautiful!
-Neha
Love Playing DressUp
Thank you so much, Neha! This ice cream is…uh, was…quite heavenly! 🙂
I have never been a fan of coffee ice cream, but I think that is because the last time I tried it was when I was a silly kid who didn’t like coffee. I have got to give it another shot. Your photos are stunning!
Silly kid, Trix are for rabbits….err, something like that! Seriously, though, if you like coffee now then you need to give this coffee ice cream a shot. It’s crazy good! Like eat the whole batch in one sitting kinda good. (I didn’t do that…but I was tempted…haha) Thanks, Cathleen!
Coffee is my weakness and this just looks amazing. I can have this anytime 🙂 Lovely clicks.
Thanks so much, Kushi! I agree…coffee ice cream is appropriate any time of the day! 🙂
Gah! This time change is killing me and I don’t even have a little baby in the house! I totally could not drag my butt out of bed yesterday or today. I really wish I had some of this coffee ice cream to get me motivated!
I get ya, Rachelle! I’ve been running on fumes this week. But at least they are fumes powered by coffee ice cream. Hang in there…it’s hump day now at least! 🙂
I can feel the softness and creamyness of this ice cream because you used eggs here… Actually I didn’t try ice cream using eggs but I have observe the result on fellow blogger’s space .So, yeah I have to try this ASAP
Custard style (i.e. eggs) is my favorite kind of ice cream, Priya! It takes a bit longer to cook the eggs, but it’s really not a hard process at all. And the result is the creamiest ice cream ever! Give it a shot sometime soon. It’s worth it! 🙂