The Churning Bush

The idea of starting a recipe for coffee ice cream with just a mug’s worth of extra-strong coffee is hardly unique to me; I first saw it in the Gelato Messina recipe book. Palumbo suggests either starting off with a strong black coffee or an espresso, and while I don’t have an espresso machine, pretty much everyone can get coffee powder these days!

The innovation in this recipe is in its use of coffee’s emulsifying properties for vegan ice cream in particular. Incorporating the various oils in this recipe is super-easy: just add them to the mug of coffee and whisk a bit!

I think the most important thing in trying out this recipe is to be prepared to make up a few batches and really customise it. There are a lot of different roasts of coffee out there, and while I’ve provided the amount of coffee that I used in grams, you should experiment with it and find out what works for you. If you want to try and go the Messina route and start with an espresso, please do so – though in that case I’d suggest making up about a third as much as the amount of coffee listed here.

Vegan Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients

Coffee
200 grams	Boiling Water
20 grams, or to taste	Instant Coffee Powder (I used a very dark roast for this, you should experiment!)
500 grams	3% Fat oat milk
Powders
150 grams	Sucrose (White sugar)
50 grams	Dextrose (D-glucose)
10 grams	Maltodextrin
5 grams	Stabiliser, such as xanthan gum
Fats
80 grams	Refined coconut oil
20 grams	Neutral oil

Directions

1. Measure out the coffee powder, coconut oil and vegetable oil into a heatproof bowl, pour over the boiling water and whisk thoroughly until everything is homogenous. Next, combine all the sugars in a separate bowl, and slowly pour them into the coffee and oil mixture while continuing to whisk.
2. Add the milk, then pour the mixture into a pot and start simmering over a medium heat. Once it reaches 80°C (175°F), remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.
3. Once cool enough, place the ice cream mixture in the fridge and leave it there until cooled to 4°C (40°F) or overnight. Sometimes I like to move the mixture to the freezer for the last half hour to get it as cool as possible and help with the churning process, but don’t leave it in the freezer so long that it starts to solidify.
4. Pour the custard into your churner and leave it running until fully churned.  Being ‘fully churned’ is hard to judge without experience, but your ice cream should have increased somewhat in volume and look a bit denser than soft serve. The time needed will vary dramatically depending on your churner.
5. You can serve your ice cream as soft serve now if you like, or you can put it in the freezer to harden to your desired level. If it’s been in the freezer for more than 12 hours or so, you might need to give the ice cream a bit of time to soften at room temperature before you serve it.