There isn’t a dessert that rivals ice cream during the summertime. And homemade ice cream is second to none. Ever since my first taste of that first batch of vanilla, made in the driveway of my childhood home, I’ve been hooked on homemade ice cream. As not crazy as it sounds, vanilla is my favorite. Those little flecks of genuine vanilla bean? The best. Real ingredients, simple steps, food perfection. This year, I’ve partnered with Lavazza for coffee -centered posts and this month’s challenge was to beat the heat with something cool. Taking my favorite vanilla base, I added a mocha flavored rippled and some dark chocolate bites for extra yumminess. It turned out delicious. A nice grown-up treat for summer.
To make the mocha ripple, I used Lavazza’s Gran Selezione, this month’s special. It’s a dark roast with an intense and chocolaty flavor and I inhale its aroma all day long. When I tried the ripple recipe, I made two batches – one plain chocolate, one with coffee – just to make sure it was good. I admitted I didn’t like coffee in my last post but the coffee batch might be my first step to coffee-loving. The addition of coffee gave the sauce a deeper, richer taste. Yum!
Ripple recipe by David Lebovitz and Vanilla Ice Cream by Jeni Bauer
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup strong brewed dark roast coffee (or espresso)
- 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups whole milk
- 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp cornstarch
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/3 cup sugar
- 4 Tbsp light corn syrup
- 2 vanilla beans, split, seeds scraped out, seeds and beans reserved
- OPTIONAL: dark chocolate bits
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, brewed coffee and cocoa powder.
- Continue to whisk the mix until it comes to a low boil and cook for 1 minute, whisking frequently.
- Remove the pot from heat, stir in the vanilla and allow it to cool completely. Chill in the refrigerator before using.
- Mix about 4 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry.
- In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and salt and blend until smooth.
- Fill another large bowl with ice and water.
- Take the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla seeds and beans and combine them in a 4-quart saucepan.
- Bring it to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and boil for 4 minutes
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the cornstarch and milk mixture.
- Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, for about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
- Gradually add the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mix, whisking it until smooth.
- To chill the mix, pour it into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and put the sealed bag into the ice bath. Continue to add more ice as needed until cold, about 30 minutes.
- Remove the vanilla beans.
- Pour the ice cream base into the canister of the ice cream machine and spin until thick and creamy according to the manufacturer's directions.
- With the chilled Mocha Ripple and the thick and creamy ice cream, it's time to put them together.
- Spoon some of the mocha ripple into the bottom of the container. Optional - Sprinkle on some dark chocolate chunks. Top that with some of the ice cream.
- Continue layering the ripple, dark chocolate and the ice cream until it's gone (I had three layers of chocolate.) Don't stir the chocolate because it will make the ice cream look muddy.
- Press a sheet of parchment paper directly against the surface and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.
Notes
Want to make Mocha Ripple Ice Cream Sandwiches?
Here's the recipe for the wafer cookies!
- 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup superfine sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- In a bowl, lightly whisk together the sugar and egg whites just until the whites are broken up.
- Add the flour, melted butter and ground almonds to the sugar and egg whites. Mix until evenly combined.
- Scoop tablespoons of the mix onto a parchment-covered baking sheet. Spread the mixture out into 2 1/4 inch rounds.
- Bake at 400F for 8-9 minutes or until golden around the edges. Scoop off the paper and transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- Place a scoop of slightly softened ice cream onto one of the cookies. Top with another and gently press them together. Dust with sugar to serve.
I love ice cream sandwiches! These nutty, wafer cookies are just delicious too. Perfect with the mocha ripple. Not that I couldn’t just eat it out of the container.
I have a whole stack of them made up in the freezer, just waiting for a hot afternoon snack.
Despite their thin profile, the wafers are chewy and hold together, even against the ice cream.
Now excuse me while I sit down and enjoy one of these while hiding from my children.
Gran Selezione is 20% off for the month of June. Get your discount here.
This post is sponsored by Lavazza Coffee. I’ve partnered with them for a series of post spread over the coming year. All opinions and ideas are my own. Thank you for being supportive of our sponsors.
*Affiliate links used.
This looks so so amazing!
Thanks Cyd!