Well, more like chocolate-swirled no-churn coffee ice cream.
Anyway, happy birthday to me! #Thisis39, locked and loaded and ready for good things. And all good things start with ice cream, in my experience.
Like 2020 in so many ways, 38 was a weird one. I usually look back on the past 365 and have a lot to show for it: amazing adventures, funny stories, new favorite things to add to the list. However, 38 kicked off with a self-imposed travel ban through the fall to save some money and vacation time with the hope and expectation that all would be blown and lost come the new year. Well…8 months later, all I’ve got to show for it is smaller boobs and two trips to Disney World.
Ok, that’s dramatic. And I know when I put it like that, I negate the fact that I got a new job, the dream job that I asked the universe for almost to a creepy degree. I refinanced my house because I’m a grown up and got a much better interest rate, which means I’ll be able to take many more trips in the future. I finally went and explored Northern Michigan, which was on my to-do list and my vision board for the year. I got to spend almost three months with my brother when he came here for the start of the pandemic, which was fun and the longest amount of time we’ve hung out since I moved out when I was 18. Sunday family dinners were a lovely side effect of that.
So overall, I’m healthy, employed, have an almost-whole family and amazing friends, both near and far. So it’s been a pretty good year.
And that deserves a pretty good treat.
When coming up with this year’s birthday treat, I had less lazy intentions than no-churn ice cream. Some orange-ginger shortbread that I made wasn’t up to snuff. My good intentions to remake my original blog-birthday cupcakes also remained just that- good intentions. And when I woke up yesterday morning and realized I’d have nothing so sweet with which to ring in 39 and not really enough time to freeze my canister, no-churn coffee ice cream it was.
Coffee, with a chocolate swirl to be a little extra fancy.
It starts like every no-churn on these pages does, with a can of sweetened condensed milk and whipping cream. The cream is infused overnight with crushed coffee beans, strained and whipped up to stiff peaks. I added a few tablespoons of instant coffee for some color and extra strength, a touch of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and chocolate, melted and just folded in to give it that super sexy swirl.
I’m not kidding when I say assembly took all of 10 minutes while I was making breakfast yesterday morning. And it was ready to enjoy by late afternoon.
Want to be really extra? Throw in some chocolate covered espresso beans! I just didn’t have any. Remember that this was a last-minute concoction?
But that doesn’t make it any less birthday worthy. Cheers to 39!
No-churn Coffee Ice Cream
Chocolate swirled no-churn coffee ice cream comes together with a handful of ingredients, and no ice cream maker for a tasty frozen treat in no time.
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 can sweetened-condensed milk
- 1/2 cup coffee beans, very coarsely ground (like, 4 pulses in a coffee grinder)
- 2 TB instant coffee
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 In a glass bowl, add the cream and coffee beans. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator, at least 12 hours.
- Step 2 Before you’re ready to whip the cream, melt the chocolate in the microwave about 1:30 on power level 7. Beat until smooth and let cool until to the touch (but don’t let it cool long enough to solidify again).
- Step 3 Strain the cream and put it in the bowl of an electric mixer with the vanilla, salt and instant coffee. Using the whisk attachment, beat until stiff peaks. Slowly stream in the sweetened condensed milk and incorporate well.
- Step 4 Drizzle the chocolate over the cream mixture , little by little, and gently fold into the cream to give it a nice swirl. Do not over mix it- you don’t want the chocolate to disappear and fully incorporate. Continue drizzling and folding until the chocolate is gone.
- Step 5 Place into a plastic container or loaf pan and freeze, at least four hours, until solid. Enjoy!
