Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

During the summer, I love iced coffee.  And as an occasional treat, I like to add a little sweetened condensed milk to it.  The rich caramelly flavor is great with strong coffee  without overpowering it the way cream or half & half usually does.  When I saw this recipe for Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream on Ezra Pound Cake pop up in my reader, I didn't even read past the title, and just starred it right then and there.

I pretty much left the recipe alone, just adding a little vanilla extract because, well, I felt like it.  For the coffee, I just used some of the cold-brewed coffee I keep stocked in the fridge all summer, and added about a tablespoon of the instant espresso I keep around for baking.  This makes a great summer treat- iIf I thought I could sneak ice cream past my daughter in the morning, I'd be putting a scoop of this in my coffee instead of ice!

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

What's in it:

1 1/2 c sweetened condensed milk (almost 2 cans)
1 1/2 c brewed espresso or very strongly brewed coffee, or your regular coffee with some help from instant espresso
1/2 c half-and-half or milk (using milk will result in a slightly less creamy ice cream)

2-3 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Big pinch of finely ground dark roast coffee (optional)

How to make it:

The day before you plan to make your ice cream, freeze your ice cream maker's bowl as appropriate (if you're using a KitchenAid mixer ice cream bowl, try freezing it upside down for more even ice cream churning!).

In a large bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients.  Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.  I churned for about 20 minutes on medium-low speed.