Coffee Butter Almond Ice Cream with E.L.F.udge Cookies

A couple of years ago I got an ice cream maker for my birthday. I was so excited because I've always wanted one, but I've only actually used it a few times. It makes fantastic ice cream and you can really be creative with the flavors and add whatever you want to it. I made ice cream with my niece and nephew one time when I was babysitting. We made chocolate ice cream and I let them put whatever they wanted into it. It turned out verrrrry interesting. We almost broke the machine by putting so much candy in it. I've also used it to make apple cinnamon ice cream to accompany an apple pie I made for a dinner party.  Unfortunately not all of my ice cream endeavors have been successful.  Recently I attempted to make coffee flavored frozen yogurt for my boyfriend, Dave. I had a recipe and followed it exactly. Halfway through the mixing process I did a taste test. It was unbelievably awful. I made every attempt to salvage it by mixing in tons and tons of Oreos, Reese's Pieces, and even peanut butter. Anything to mask the flavor of this God forsaken frozen yogurt. I told Dave I was sorry but it just didn't work out and there was no way I could give this to him. He assured me I was just being too hard on myself. Against my better judgment, I brought it over for him to try. He made a face and said something like "I feel bad for all the Oreos and Reese's Pieces that had to die for this frozen yogurt". We came to the conclusion that the coffee and yogurt just didn't mix together and coffee ice cream would be much better.

My super awesome ice cream maker

Several weeks after the Frozen Yogurt Fiasco of 2010, I decided to bring out the ice cream maker yet again and try to redeem myself. I found this recipe for coffee butter almond ice cream and thought it sounded interesting. I made a few changes to the recipe, some by accident and some on purpose. I omitted the Almonds because I just don't like them, but I still added the almond extract to keep the flavor. I accidentally poured in way too much extract, but it didn't seem to matter much in the end. I also didn't read the ingredients list carefully enough and used regular espresso rather than instant. Since the powder was so fine it still mixed in pretty well. You can see it in the pictures but it wasn't noticeable in the texture of the ice cream. Finally, I added a bunch of crushed up Elf fudge cookies. mmmm mmm. This one turned great. Dave and his roommate, Eric both liked it a lot and Eric says he doesn't usually like coffee ice cream. Another success!  My brother, Lewie has requested grapefruit sorbet so that will be my next ice cream maker project, even though it doesn't sound very appetizing to me.

Ingredients 

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 Cup slivered almonds, roughly chopped

1 Teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 Cups whole milk, chilled

1 1/8 Cups granulated sugar

3-5 Tablespoons instant espresso powder (to taste)

3 Cups heavy cream

2 Teaspoons almond extract

1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Melt the butter in a 10 inch skillet. Add the slivered almonds and kosher salt. Cook over medium-low heat until almonds are toasted and golden, stirring frequently, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Strain. Chill the nuts.

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk, granulated sugar and espresso powder until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and extracts. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. Add the chopped nuts to the mixture during the last 5 minutes of freezing. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture, If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving. 

Source: Cuisinart