Coffee Toffee Ice Cream

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This coffee toffee ice cream is smooth and creamy and such a delicious treat! The deep, rich, coffee ice cream is wonderfully contrasted by the sweet, buttery, crunchy toffee pieces.

Inspiration

Ben & Jerry’s used to make an ice cream flavor called Coffee Heath Bar Crunch and it was absolutely delicious! It was a smooth coffee ice cream with large pieces of Heath bar swirled all throughout. They no longer make this flavor, so I wanted to create something similar.

If you’re unfamiliar with a Heath bar, it’s a candy bar made of English toffee and almond pieces, covered in milk chocolate. It pairs perfectly with coffee ice cream.

So Many Toffee Options

There are a variety of options when it comes to the toffee you can add to your ice cream. You can buy toffee pieces (usually found by the chocolate chips in the baking aisle of the grocery store), chop up Heath bars or another toffee candy bar, or make your own toffee from scratch.

If you want to go the homemade route, that’s always a great choice and it gives you more control of the final product. You can add more almonds, use more chocolate, or leave out the chocolate and nuts entirely. If you want something super quick, without the extra step of making toffee, I personally find that chopping up Heath bars tastes better than the toffee pieces that come pre-chopped.

Typically, when I make this recipe, I use homemade English toffee with almonds and milk chocolate. This particular time, however, I chose to use homemade toffee without nuts or chocolate, because I had some leftover from another recipe. It’s just as delicious and what you choose to do is all based on your personal preference.

Choosing the Right Coffee is Important

The coffee that you choose directly impacts the flavor of the final ice cream. When you choose the type of coffee to use for this recipe, choose a coffee that you enjoy drinking. I would also recommend using regular coffee grounds, not instant coffee, since instant coffee usually has a less-than-ideal flavor.

You can also experiment with using flavored coffee. Just keep in mind how that flavor will work with the toffee or other mix-ins that you’re using.

Note – if you choose caffeinated coffee, your ice cream will contain caffeine, so keep this in mind when deciding which coffee you want to use.

Determining the Strength of Your Coffee Ice Cream

How strong you like your coffee is a personal preference that will carry over into how you’ll like this coffee ice cream. To give the ice cream it’s flavor, I let the coffee grounds steep in milk for several hours to allow the milk to absorb the wonderful coffee flavor. Think of this step as making cold brew – you’re essentially making cold brew, but instead of water, you’re using milk.

If you like strong coffee, feel free to let the coffee grounds steep in the milk for longer than what the recipe recommends, and if you like mild coffee, steep for less time.

Equipment

I use an ice cream maker to churn this ice cream. The one I currently use, and some other options, are linked below:

• Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (the one I currently use)
• Kitchen Aid Mixer Ice Cream Attachment
• Bosch Mixer Ice Cream Attachment
• Dash Ice Cream Machine

Don’t have an ice cream machine or not ready to buy one? Check out my post: How to Make Ice Cream Without a Machine.

Coffee Toffee Ice Cream

Brookside Kitchen

The deep, rich, creamy, coffee ice cream is wonderfully contrasted by the sweet, buttery, crunchy toffee pieces making for a delicious treat!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Steeping, Chilling, & Churning (Hands Off) 16 hours hrs

Course Dessert

Servings 1 quart

Equipment

• Ice Cream Machine

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup coffee grounds
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup toffee pieces

Instructions

 

• Add coffee grounds and milk to an air-tight container and allow to steep overnight, or until desired strength is achieved.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Set aside.
• Pour milk through a fine-mesh sieve to remove coffee grounds.
• Add coffee-infused milk, cream, vanilla, and salt to a pot. Place over medium heat, stirring frequently, until warm and beginning to steam.
• Slowly pour some of the warm milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, while whisking constantly to temper the egg yolks. Continue until all of the milk has been added.
• Pour the mixture back into the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon well.
• Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve (optional) into a heat-safe container. Cover and let cool slightly at room temperature for 20 minutes. Then, place in the fridge and chill overnight, or until completely cold.
• Churn ice cream according to manufacturer’s instructions.
• Fold the toffee pieces into the ice cream and transfer to an air-tight container. Cover, and freeze until firm.

Notes

Prepare Your Ice Cream Machine – If your ice cream machine has a bowl that needs to be frozen, remember to freeze it in advance so it’s ready when you need it. I prefer to freeze it overnight to ensure it’s fully frozen before using.

Choosing the Right Coffee – The coffee that you choose directly impacts the flavor of the final ice cream. When you choose the coffee to use for this recipe, choose a coffee that you enjoy drinking.

Coffee Strength – How strong you like your coffee is a personal preference that will determine how you’ll like this ice cream. If you like strong coffee, steep the coffee and milk for a longer period of time. If you like mild coffee, steep for less time.

Tempering the Egg Yolks – This step is important because it allows the eggs to heat up slowly, so they don’t curdle and cause little egg lumps in your ice cream mixture.

Cooking the Ice Cream – When cooking the ice cream, you’ll know it’s done when it coats the back of a spoon well. If you want to use a thermometer, it should reach this point around 160 – 180℉.

Strainer – Pouring the cooked ice cream base through a strainer or fine-mesh sieve is optional, but it ensures that you don’t end up with any lumps or pieces of cooked egg yolk in your mixture.

Chilling the Mixture – I prefer to chill the ice cream base overnight to ensure it’s fully cold and allow everything to meld together. If you don’t want to wait that long to churn your ice cream, you can move onto the churning step once the ice cream base is fully cold.

Serving – If the ice cream has been in the freezer for an extended period of time, you may want to let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes to allow it to soften slightly before scooping.

Churning without an Ice Cream Machine – If you don’t have an ice cream machine, I show an alternate method for churning ice cream here (https://brooksidekitchen.com/how-to-make-ice-cream-without-a-machine/).

Keyword brown sugar ice cream, coffee heath bar ice cream, coffee ice cream, coffee toffee crunch, easy ice cream recipe, frozen dessert, summer dessert

If you make this ice cream recipe, I’d love to see it! Please leave a comment with a star rating here and tag @BrooksideKitchen on Instagram with the hashtag #brooksidekitchen