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Coffee Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made with coffee, milk, sugar, egg yolks, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Coffee Ice Cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Pound the coffee in a mortar until crushed but not powdered.

  2. Combine the crushed coffee, milk, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool.

  4. Strain the mixture over the egg yolks in a double boiler.

Make the custard

  1. Stir over low heat until the custard thickens, being careful not to curdle it.

  2. Once cool, fold in the whipped cream.

Freeze

  1. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker.

  2. Transfer to a mold and freeze until ready to serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving the ice cream a rich, smooth body.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving a creamy texture and a softer, smoother bite.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that carries the coffee flavor and dissolves the sugar.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
Freshly roasted coffee
Supplies the main aroma and flavor, infused into the milk as it heats.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but if the heat is too high they scramble and curdle. Gentle, constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and silky.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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