Coffee Ice Cream (with Variations)

I personally love making the mocha variation of this recipe. Depending on how much of the coffee flavor you want to shine through, you can use regular drip coffee or espresso. Espresso will produce a much stronger flavor, but coffee will be fine too (and not everyone owns an espresso maker). Of course, the better the coffee you use, the better this will taste. If you use Starbucks coffee, well, don’t blame me if it sucks. (You could also use decaf or half-caf if you don’t want too much caffeine, but where’s the fun in that?)

2 c. soy creamer (or any non-dairy milk)
1 ¼ c. soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)
¾ c. fresh, strong coffee or espresso
¾ c. sugar
2 T. arrowroot
1 t. vanilla

Directions:

Mix ¼ cup of soy milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Mix the soy creamer, soy milk, coffee, and sugar together in a saucepan. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Stir in vanilla extract.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Variations:

Add-ins: Add in ½ cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate-covered espresso beans during the last five minutes of freezing.

Mocha: Reduce soy milk to 1 cup. Melt in ¼ cup chocolate chips during initial heating phase. For more chocolate excitement, add a couple tablespoons more chocolate chips, or use chocolate non-dairy milk instead of plain.

Kahlua: Reduce soy milk to 1 cup. Stir in ¼ cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur after adding vanilla.

Matthew Scudder: Reduce soy milk to 1 cup. Add a plug or two of bourbon after adding vanilla. Then go catch a criminal or solve a murder or something.