Low Carb Mocha Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I was in the supermarket looking for inspiration for new flavors when small jar of freeze-dried coffee caught my eye. Ugh. I don’t like coffee flavored ice cream, but maybe I can convince my wife to be a guinea pig? She agreed! Freeze-dried coffee is how Ben & Jerry did it in their book back in the 80s. Sure, if you want to get fancy, you’d add high quality espresso beans in the ice cream mix while heating and let it steep for an hour, then strain. Another method would be to make a “coffee concentrate:”

To prepare coffee concentrate, you will need a coffee toddy, 1 pound medium to fine ground coffee, and ½ gallon cold water. Set the toddy over an empty jar, place the coffee in the filter, and pour the water over it. Let the coffee drip overnight. This makes 5 ounces of concentrate. Use only 4½ teaspoons for each batch of ice cream.

MilkMade uses uses Grady’s Cold Brew in their ice cream. Coffee aficionados should feel free to experiment, but I took the cheapest and easiest way out.

You should be able to use the freeze-dried coffee method using any of my low carb ice cream bases including the no-cook one assuming you give the coffee enough opportunity to dissolve into the mix. Ben & Jerry recommends using one of the tablespoons of freeze-dried coffee added at the end of the churn. I’m not sure I’d like the idea of crunchy crystals as a mix-in, but you never know.

The taste of the coffee added to the mix was great, but I chickened out at the last minute and added a tablespoon of chocolate fudge flavoring. I also tossed in low carb chocolate chips. The flavors work really work well together. In fact, I found myself stealing spoonfuls of this ice cream from my wife. Word of warning: get decaf coffee crystals. This ice cream packs a caffeine punch!

Ingredients

Low Carb Sweet Cream Base
2-3 tablespoons freeze-dried coffee
1 tablespoon LorAnn Oils Flavor Fountain Flavorings, Chocolate Fudge
70 g (between ⅓ and ½ cup) Lily’s Chocolate - All Natural Dark Chocolate Premium Baking Chips

Directions

1. Follow the instructions for the Low Carb Sweet Cream Base and mix in the freeze-dried coffee crystals early on. Add the chocolate fudge flavoring after the mix has cooled. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, if necessary.
2. Follow your ice cream maker’s directions for making ice cream. Add chocolate chips to the ice cream maker approximately ten minutes before it’s done. Remove from the ice cream maker using a silicone spatula into the container. Freeze until solid.