My daughter Patty and son-in-law Mike and I planned to make a variety of ice creams using my new Lussino model 4080 Lello Dessert Maker, by Musso SrI., an Italian company. That unit received very high ratings and I found it on Amazon® for $549 with free shipping. It was a very wise purchase. Patty said she would like us to make coffee ice cream. That was one variety I did not have in Food Nirvana. Said problem is now fixed with the recipe below which is delicious. Oh, I refer to the dessert maker in this recipe as a gelato machine as it was designed to be that.

We used the fine Food Nirvana recipe for Custard Ice Cream Base, 1/4 cup of Nestle® instant coffee granules and 1/2 cup of SweetGourmet® chocolate espresso beans blend of white, milk and dark chocolate, individual pieces chopped in half, and some vanilla. The addition of the chopped chocolate espresso beans really amped up the flavor and texture of what would have been a very good but not outstanding ice cream flavor.

So now the ice cream is outstanding. You can buy a one pound bag of the SweetGourmet® chocolate espresso beans on Amazon® for $12.95. As of now, buy two bags and the shipping is free.

Ingredients: (makes about 6 cups)

1 1/2 cups of milk

3 cups of whipping cream

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tbsp. of pure vanilla extract

5 jumbo egg yolks

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of Nestle® instant coffee granules

1/2 cup of halved pieces of SweetGourmet® Chocolate Espresso Beans Blend - White, Milk & Dark Chocolate

Directions:

Heat the cream, milk, sugar and salt in a heavy bottom saucepan, on medium-low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar completely, while raising the temperature to 140 degrees F (use an instant read thermometer). That will take about 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Whisk the yolks in a separate bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about one cup of the hot cream mixture into the yolks. Then, gradually whisk that yolk and cream mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the cream mixture.

Return the saucepan to medium-low heat and cook while stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (175 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer). Then immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.

Strain the custard base through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the custard base to cool to room temperature.

Chill the covered custard base in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Note that you can keep the custard base refrigerated before use for up to three to four days if it is well covered.

Chop the chocolate espresso bean candy pieces in half with a heavy knife on a wooden cutting board.

Add the instant coffee granules and the vanilla to the custard base, stir briefly, and then transfer the mixture to the gelato machine and turn it on. The churning of the gelato machine will dissolve the coffee granules into the custard base.

Run the gelato machine until the ice cream is fairly firm, about 30 minutes.

Add the chopped chocolate espresso bean candy pieces and continue to run the gelato machine for two to three minutes to let the pieces blend into the ice cream.

Package the ice cream in a two quart plastic or paper storage container with a tight fitting lid.

Hard freeze the ice cream in the deep freeze for two to four hours.

Serve. You will love this stuff!