Monday, March 1, 2010

Vietnamese Iced Coffee Ice Cream

Posted by Erin Wilburn / 20 comments » / dessert, ice cream

Let’s just make one thing clear. I. Love. Ice Cream. I love it year round. I love frozen yogurt too. If it’s cold and creamy… I’m there! That’s why having the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer is a DANGEROUS thing! I do love ice creams that are rich, fattening, and delicious; like this Butterscotch Ice Cream, or Maple Ice Cream and with Pumpkin Pie Fudge. But I can also get my “fix” from ice creams that aren’t AS bad for you, like this Key Lime Pie version from Cooking Light. This ice cream, luckily, is on lighter end of the fattening scale, and similar to the Key Lime Pie version in it’s creamy-but somewhat-icey texture.

Another thing I love with all my heart is coffee. I was first introduced to a specific version of coffee where you add sweetened condensed milk from a world-traveling blogger I follow, Cate from Cate’s World Kitchen. She drank it while in Thailand, and wrote a blog post about the perfect Thai Iced Coffee. Also, around the same time, I discovered the “Iced Cuban”, which has sweetened condensed milk in it, at a great Nashville coffee shop, Crema. And on my most recent visit to New York City, I ate at Baoguette, a Vietnamese gourmet sandwich shop, where I couldn’t leave without ordering a delicious Vietnamese iced coffee with the wonderful, sweetened condensed milk. And most recently, I enjoyed a tasty Vietnamese iced coffee when Lindsay and her husband introduced The Boy & I to Pho, at a Vietnamese restaurant in Nashville. To say I like that flavor combination, would definitely be an understatement.

My point here is, whether you call it “Thai”, “Cuban”, or “Vietnamese”, when you add sweetened condensed milk to coffee, you get a delicious, addictive treat. Because of my love for all things coffee, my love for ice cream, and my newfound love of the coffee + sweetened condensed milk combo; the minute I saw this recipe I knew I’d be making it. Besides, the ingredients list was only 3 lines long, all of which I already had on hand. I made this back BEFORE I left my Aeropress in Florida; and it was a great, easy way to make the espresso. This was so simple and easy to prepare. The flavor is not the rich, full fat flavor of other ice creams, but it has all the taste of the Vietnamese Iced Coffee, and therefore satisfies all my desires for a cool, cold, creamy treat. It’s lighter on the waistline than the fully decadent ice creams, clocking in at 205 calories, and 6g of fat per 1/2 cup scoop. My only suggestion is, due to the amount of caffeine in this, I don’t recommend a big scoop late in the evening! It’s probably best enjoyed as an afternoon treat.

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Vietnamese Iced Coffee Ice Cream

as seen in the San Francisco Gate Chronicle, using a recipe adapted from David Lebovitz
Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups brewed espresso or very strong coffee

1/2 cup half-and-half

Big pinch of finely ground dark-roast coffee

Directions:

Whisk together the condensed milk, espresso, half-and-half and ground coffee. Cover and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a covered container and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

Per 1/2 cup serving: 205 calories, 5 g protein, 32 g carbohydrate, 6 g fat (4 g saturated), 27 mg cholesterol, 81 mg sodium, 0 fiber