Mocha Stracciatella
Creamy, luxurious and dotted with crunchy chocolate shards, this mocha Stracciatella is infused with plenty of bold, fresh coffee flavor. Plot twist β no need to brew any hot (or cold) coffee!
Steep the milk
Grind some of your favorite coffee beans (or have them ground for you) into very coarse grounds. I have an electric grinder at home (Baratza) and set the dial to 40, which is the coarsest setting. If neither of those are an option for you, (which is very possible, no worries! We are coffee nerds at our house) you should also be able to find cold brew specific coffee grounds either at the store or online, which is what you need.
All weβre doing is making cold brew with whole milk instead of water. The grounds will infuse the milk with plenty of coffee flavor and make the most amazing ice cream.
I didnβt want to add regular coffee to the recipe, because itβs brewed with plain water. Adding water to an ice cream base prevents it from becoming as thick and creamy as you want it to be. As it freezes, there would be a lot of ice crystals rather than a smooth custard.
I wanted this mocha Stracciatella to be packed with coffee flavor, so I would have needed to add a lot of coffee to make it work. I could have used espresso powder, but steeping the milk with the coffee grounds just seemed like more fun, and I wanted to see if it worked! (And it DID)
Making the base
Add the coffee-infused whole milk and heavy cream to a large saucepan or saucier. From there, add some granulated sugar AND light brown sugar. It might seem weird, but the brown sugar gives this ice cream something extra special.
To finish the flavor, I added a teaspoon of cocoa powder and vanilla. The cocoa goes really well with the coffee and helps to punch up the chocolate pieces more. The vanilla goes with the brown sugar to prevent the coffee/chocolate from overpowering you.
Lastly, donβt forget a little salt to add more balance.
Whisk it all together over medium heat until it begins to steam off of the surface. Donβt let it boil! Temper the egg yolks by slowly streaming in the dairy mixture and whisking constantly. You only need to temper the yolks with about a cup of the hot milk. Just be sure that while youβre working with the eggs, you keep the remaining milk mixture (in the saucepan) off of the heat until youβre ready to finish cooking the base.
Finishing the ice cream
Most egg based custards cook until 175-180 degrees F for a creamy, smooth texture. I like to get most of my ice cream bases up to 190 degrees before taking them off the heat. Be sure to continue scraping the bottom and sides of the saucepan as the custard cooks, or you risk scrambling the eggs.
The base will start out very liquidy. As it continues to cook, itβll become thicker, like the consistency of that super luxurious whole chocolate milk in the glass bottles. And as it reaches 190 degrees, itβll become even more rich. You want that!
Allow the base to refrigerate until itβs completely chilled through, which takes about 4-6 hours. It should have the consistency of pudding when itβs cold. The colder the mixture, the quicker itβll freeze in the ice cream maker, and there wonβt be as big of a window for extra ice crystals to form. Ice cream thatβs churned quickly maintains a rich, custard like texture.
Chocolate Stracciatella
Frozen chocolate has a tendency to break your teeth in bigger pieces, which would be a distraction from the flavor. Chop up some of your favorite baking chocolate (I recommend either dark or semi sweet) and melt it down in the microwave with a few teaspoons of coconut oil. Once itβs totally combined, shiny and smooth, itβs ready to drizzle into the ice cream.
In order to make the Stracciatella effect work, you need to stream in the liquid chocolate mixture while the ice cream is still being churned. Watch the ice cream and wait for it to reach a looser soft serve consistency as it churns. Then, you can slowly add the chocolate.
Because coconut oil is so high in saturated fat, it hardens immediately when in contact with something frozen or very cold, in this case, our mocha ice cream. Streaming it into the ice cream while itβs being churned will cause it to harden and then break into shards with the constant motion of the ice cream maker.
Be sure to keep the stream thin, or youβll have big pieces of chocolate rather than delicate shards.
Loving this mocha Stracciatella? Check out more homemade ice cream recipes like my red velvet cake ice cream or a silky smooth coconut caramel custard!
Mocha Stracciatella
- Prep Time: 16 hours
- Freezing Time: 4 hours (min)
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 20 hours + 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 quart 1x
- Category: Dessert, Ice Cream & Frozen
- Method: Stovetop, Ice Cream Maker
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy, luxurious and dotted with crunchy chocolate shards, this mocha Stracciatella is infused with plenty of bold, fresh coffee flavor.
Ingredients
For the ice cream:
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 oz coarse coffee grounds (about 1/3 cup)
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the chocolate Stracciatella:
- 2 oz chopped chocolate (semi sweet or dark)
- 2 tsp coconut oil
Instructions
To make the ice cream:
- 12-16 hours before you plan on making the ice cream base, add the coffee grounds to a pint sized jar and pour the whole milk on top. Seal the jar and refrigerate for 12-16 hours.Β
- When the milk and grounds have fully steeped, you can make the ice cream base. Add the egg yolks to a medium sized heatproof mixing bowl and set aside.
- Strain the coffee-infused milk from the grounds and discard the coffee grounds. You should have about 1 cup of milk.
- Add the coffee milk and heavy cream to a medium sized saucepan or saucier. In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa powder and salt together until the cocoa is evenly incorporated. Add the sugar mixture to the milk and cream, along with the vanilla extract. Whisking the cocoa into the sugars before adding everything to the milk prevents the cocoa from clumping up in the liquid.
- Whisk everything together over medium heat until it barely simmers. You should see wisps of steam on the surface of the hot milk mixture. Remove the saucepan from the heat and separate out about 1 cup of hot milk to temper the eggs. I like to use a measuring cup with a pour spout.
- Slowly stream in the hot coffee milk while whisking the egg yolks to temper them. Once all the coffee milk has been added, pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining coffee milk.
- Return the saucepan to medium heat and use a rubber spatula to constantly scrape the bottom and sides of the pan while stirring. Keep track of the temperature of the custard, it should start out at about 140-150 degrees. Continue stirring and cooking until the custard reaches 185-190 degrees F.Β
- Once the custard is at the correct temperature, remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve to remove any stray cooked egg whites. If you see a couple, thatβs okay!Β
- Refrigerate the finished custard until completely chilled through, about 6 hours.
To make the Stracciatella and finish the ice cream:
- Combine the chopped chocolate and coconut oil in a heatproof glass measuring cup with a pour spout. Microwave at full power for 30 seconds, and stir well to distribute the heat and finish melting everything together. If all the chocolate hasnβt melted, heat for another 5 seconds to finish it up.
- Churn the chilled coffee ice cream base in an electric ice cream maker, according to the manufacturerβs instructions. Once the ice cream has reached the consistency of soft serve, slowly stream in the liquid chocolate, keeping the stream very thin, until youβve added all the chocolate. Allow the ice cream to continue churning until mostly set up.
- Transfer the churned ice cream to a storage container and cover tightly. Freeze for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 33.9 g
- Sodium: 2932.4 mg
- Fat: 30.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 18.7 g
- Trans Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 36 g
- Fiber: 1.6 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
- Cholesterol: 183.8 mg
