July 2, 2012 - Tomato, Onions and Killer Coffee Ice Cream

My first "full sized red" tomato.  At 1.2 ounces this Bloody Butcher is smaller than last year's 2 ounce tomato of the same variety, but I'll take it.  I'm getting really tired of tiny yellow tomatoes! 

I pulled the last of the Walla Walla sweet onions today.  Most of these are quite a bit larger than the earlier harvested bunch, as you can tell by the sagging fence.  I'm anxious to get them dried, and see if I meet or beat last years 20 ounce onion.

I had a $2 off coupon for a half gallon of International Delight Iced Coffee, so I bought one.  I didn't much care for it over ice.  I drink my morning coffee with half milk, half coffee and some sweetener, so I found this to be too strong and not quite sweet enough for my liking.  I certainly didn't want to waste it, so I decided to make ice cream.  Let me tell you, it is delicious!!!  I ate a bowl of it this afternoon, then I had seconds, then I decided to blog about it and needed a picture, so of course I had to have thirds!  Don't tell anyone, hokay?

Chocolate Ripple Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe by Granny

1/2 (scant) cup sugar

4 egg yolks  

2 cups International Delight Iced Coffee, vanilla flavor 

1  cup chilled heavy whipping cream  

1 teaspoon vanilla 

chocolate ice cream topping

*Note:  You can go through the whole tempering the egg yolks and straining the custard stuff, but I just put everything in the blender and then cook it.  Makes great ice cream without all the fuss.  I had to guess at the amount of sugar, as the iced coffee is already sweetened.  I found a scant 1/2 cup to be just about perfect, but 1/4-1/3 cup might be more to your liking if you don't like super sweet ice cream.

Combine sugar, egg yolks and iced coffee in blender.  Blend on low until very well mixed.  Pour mixture into a medium sized saucepan (it will bubble up pretty high) and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir for a minute or so.  Remove from heat and cut a piece of waxed or parchment paper to fit over the top to prevent a skin from forming.  Let cool slightly, then refrigerate overnight.

The next day, stir in the chilled whipping cream and vanilla.  Pour mixture into ice cream machine and  follow the directions for whichever brand ice cream maker you have. 

When the ice cream has frozen, transfer 1/3 of it to a freezer-safe airtight container and drizzle it with some of the chocolate topping (thanks to Delightful Repast for this idea!).  Layer another 1/3 of the ice cream, and drizzle with more topping.  Finish with a third layer of ice cream.  Cover the container and  place it in the freezer for at least 4 hours.  YUM!