When you bring the best ingredients to your kitchen, you will be rewarded at your table. The truth about cooking is that it is not the technique that makes one a star, but the decision one makes long before the food hits your kitchen door. Where possible, buy the best quality ingredients you can put your hands on. Note, we did not say ‘afford’ becaue there is a false notion that anything epicurean must be expensive. In fact, many gourmet retailers exploit that notion, overcharging to make their products/produce look “more elite.” This is a sad fact, so prudent shoppers will shop around to get the best deal. Some items have seasons and in fact are actually cheaper to buy in their season as nature supplies them in bounty. However, some staple pantry items are indeed expensive and stay so-year round. We suggest that you splurge on those things that make your life taste just a little better and balance the budget by shopping for produce in their season.
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Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is one of those premium items that never go on sale. It is just in too much demand and has a finite supply. While there is no shortage in Jamaica, it is very expensive, but worth every penny. We wanted a creamy, accessible homemade ice-cream recipe to showcase this famous product of our beloved homeland. While chefs often makes ice cream in highly expensive commercial ice cream machines, there is no such gadget in our home. At home, we use a KitchenAid stand mixer with an ice cream maker attachment. We figure that you do too or at least some other home machine so this recipe will work well in whatever equipment you have.
We know one of the sons of the farm that produces this Coffee Traders coffee. Run by the Sharp brothers, it has blossomed with the opening of their boutique coffee shop brand Cafe Blue, with our favourite branch perched on the hills of the Blue Mountains themselves. Jason is a fun organizer of the Red Stripe mound at Sabina Park cricket matches in Kingston and their Blue Mountain coffee takes us back to the sweetness of Jamaica, Land We Love. Blue Mountain coffee is regulated in Jamaica the same way that cheese and ham are in Europe. There is also high mountain coffee, which is still fabulous but not equal to the Blue Mountain variety. We take our coffee seriously.
With all this pride in our cool beans, we had to find a recipe that did them justice. We loved that this one actually uses whole beans. We took the recipe for this ice cream from Elise of Simply Recipes, who was guided by David Leibowitz, author of “The Perfect Scoop,” which you NEED to add to your essential cookbook collection. We did a few things differently, but as a creator, I believe strongly in giving credit, where credit is due.
- We used Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
- We infused the coffee in the cream for 3x longer, warming up and cooling off (but only till warm).
- We topped our ice cream with tempered 75% dark chocolate ganache for added texture and an even more intense coffee flavour.
- This recipe was adapted from here.
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups whole Blue Mountain coffee beans decaf unless you want the caffeine in your ice cream
- Pinch of salt
- 1 + ½ cups heavy cream
- 5 large egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon finely ground coffee, that have been through a fine mesh sieve
Instructions
Freeze your ice cream maker bowl from 24 hours before starting this recipe
Steep the Coffee Beans
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In a medium saucepan, heat milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt, and ½ cup of the cream until it starts to steam, but not boiling. Remove from stove Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 90 minutes, warming up around the 1 hour mark to steaming but not boiling.
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Get an ice bath and put a smaller bowl (metal or glass nesting bowls )on top and the pour the unused 1 cup cream in and place a strainer on top.
Temper the Egg Yolks
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To temper your eggs, you will have to reheat the milk and coffee mixture a third time until steamy but make certain not to let it boil. Do not leave it unattended.
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Grab another of your nesting bowls and beat the egg yolks well with a whisk.
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While continuously whisking briskly, gently and slowly pour the hot mil and coffee beans into the egg yolks a bit at a time so that the eggs yolks are warmed up slowly by the milk (or what we call “tempered” in chef speak, which heats eggs without actually cooking them. This process is critical to prevent creating scrambled eggs so take great care. Pour the warmed egg yolks in the saucepan.
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Gently heeat egg milk coffee mixture until it thickens, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula with a flat bottom that allows you to scrape the bottoms and sides. For about 10 minutues, continue to stir while heating the mixture until the it thickens enough into a custard to coat and stick to the spatula so that you can run your finger through the custard mixture on the spatula and the line your finger leaves remains.
Strain the Custard
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At this point, the custard is ready to poured through the the strainer over the bowl of cream in the ice bath, pressing the coffee in the strainer to get as much of the custard out as possible. You can set beans aside to grind and add to your garden compost or discard.
Mix in the vanilla and finely ground coffee, and stir until cool.
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Add the finely ground coffee and vanilla and stir until cool.
Chill and Churn with Icre Cream Machine
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Once cooled, chill the mixture thoroughly the refrigerator, preferably overnight. Then process in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Freeze as recommended by manufacturer to create nice balls of the most delicious, creamy coffee ice cream you will ever have! I used my trusty Kitchen Aid Standmixer with Ice Cream Maker attachment.
Add chocolate covered coffee beans (optional)
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Take a few coffee beans and cover with a ganache made of 75 percent chocolate for an intense burst of coffe and garnish your ice cream.
CHEF AND STEWARD NOTE: To make this dinner party compatible, serve a single small scoop with a small square of a chocolate cake, or drizzle with a cherry sauce for a compatible flavour profile. I do not advise that serve non-decaf coffee ice cream to children because I will not be responsible for them breaking your things and dancing on the ceiling all night.
Ha! I like that warning about serving to kids. You guys are smart people!!
😀
Thanks Ellie! This is definitely a grown up sweet treat!
Wonderful post. I like that you mentioned about quality food not always being expensive. I try to drive that point home as much as possible. You can eat very well without spending much money.
Thanks Chef Connie! You are certainly right. Many people spend more than needed on things they don’t have to. Not even organic has to break them bank!
looks so yummy! thanks for the share. 🙂
Thanks for coming by and letting us know!
Ha Stephen would love this a nice treat for his birthday in Sep…
It is sensational- and easy! We can even let you know how to get the coffee in Dubai.
I agree how some ingredients are simply overpriced 🙁 Just a sad sad thing for people like me who would like to enjoy high quality ingredients without breaking the bank. Love the photos of the beans swimming in milk 🙂 Glad to see you guys back and up and running!
Didi, you have to know how, where and when to shop. Plus, there is nothing wrong with eating things only in season or when they are affordable. In fact, it enhances the whole experience if we do not eat foie gras everyday!
I have to learn. Somehow since we did not experience seasons, most vege and fruits are available all year round (with the exception of fruits – I am more familiar with the seasonality of this). Have a lot to learn about vege and more!
My favourite ingredients combined…mmm mmm yum, love chef’s note caters for my sweet tooth perfectly!
Please send me Elise’s link, for some reason it doesn’t open when I try to visit it..thanks x
Hi Misbah, thanks for pointing out the broken links to us. We have edited them so they are now working. Since it combines your favourite flavours, we will send them to you.
You’re right about splurging on great ingredients, including coffee, chocolate, vanilla, butter, maple syrup, etc. There are a few that will make all the difference in the most simplest of recipes. Great pairing. And congrats on Jamaica’s big Olympic wins!
Thanks Chyrsta1! Those indeed go a far way. We are totally excited about Jamaica’s athletic triumphs at the Olympics 🙂
This is one dilemma that I always face – the notion of high price related to high quality. Sometimes when I do find good ingredients at honest prices I start questioning about the integrity of the product in question!
Ishita, that is the unfortunate thing! Just like how the organic produce here was ridiculously expensive then there came a box produce offering that was not so pricey but still expensive and then when a real farmer’s market shows up with real farmers and picked-that-morning produce, it gets lost behind those with great PR connections. Sad.
I guess till locally things are not produced organically it’s going to be like this. Perceptions will change slowly for sure.
Great post chefandsteward – that ice-cream looks absolutely delicious! The texture looks so creamy, wow perfect. I too love the photography of your ice cream, infact all of your dishes come to life through the lens of your camera! Fabulous workmanship chefandsteward.
Thanks so much Bev. It was amazingly delicious and we will be using it to make other dessert treats!
It’s my next Dessert . . .
Fantastic@
I love your wise shopping tips and that gorgeous bowl in the picture. I’ve had the pleasure of tasting Blue Mountain Coffee once and it is fantastic.
Thanks Sandra, The bowl was gifted to us by my aunt who was Chef’s elementary school principal. It was one of her wedding gifts over 30 years ago. Totally treasured!
I am not a fan of coffee but infuse it with ice-cream…..don’t mind if i go for seconds
Want that ice cream now! I have to add ice cream maker in my christmas wish list.
Abigail, your children will love you for it.. and V’s wife will have to come really good to impress him because his mama made her ice cream from scratch! Happy to see that you have gotten a little break. Hope all is well with new baby.
That’s the spirit Jordan! Sometimes we may not like ingredients on their own but we may actually delight in them paired with other things!
Just make it decaf and I am in heaven!
Now THAT’S what we are talking about. If you have any left, do share your pic with us on our facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ChefandSteward.com
Amazing! And you have to make me some to try because my mouth is so watering right now, I had to reach for the less than good commercial ice cream I have in the freezer!! I love everything Jamaican but am partial because I feel that Jamaica has given me such a huge gift! lol but I always hear of Blue Mountain Coffee and never have tried it yet! Hint, hint lol
I can see you have been inspired very evident in your new blog posts 🙂 Your photos are stunning Kari as always.
Good tips Chef. I love all things party size, and I dont mind jumping around the room so fully caffeinated for me please 😉
I agree fully– splurge on those small, simple things that make life much more delicious. They’ll be memorable. I love the soaking of the beans. Great idea. I’ve done that with truffles for truffle ice cream. Fabulous.
Oooh truffle flan… can’t wait to try yours! No wonder you are the queen of flans Bren!