Smooth and Creamy Coffee Ice Cream

Starting this post with an honest confession! This is not what I had set out to make. The idea was to make an ice cream with leftover chocolate cake (for which I even baked one and let it not get over) the recipe for which I saw on my favorite food forum and was quite excited to try it. However, the recipe was not quite perfect (at least did not work for me) and I ended up with a lot of creamy ice cream but sans any cakey texture or flavor (I had to literally search the cake bits with a spatula). The recipe called for just a muffin sized chocolate cake but I guess it needs a lot more than that to achieve the end result. Nevertheless, the recipe also called for 2 tbsp instant coffee powder and considering the glitch, I decided to increase on that. As luck would have it, I was out of any instant coffee but had lots of instant 3-in-1 premixed coffee sachets and I decided to use these for the ice cream. I kept adding the sachets until I reached my desired coffee taste. Once frozen, I had the most amazing coffee ice cream I ever had. If you do not like the flavor of coffee pre-mixes (some people like my husband don 't!), you can use regular coffee too. Just adjust the amount as per your liking.

Ingredients (Makes a big sized glass serving bowl)

2 cups full cream milk

1 cup whipping cream (I used half regular cream and half whipped cream)

1 cup milk powder

2 muffin-sized leftover chocolate cake (the original recipe called for just 1 muffin-sized cake; you can either increase the amount or skip it. The taste of the cake was no where obvious at the end)

1 cup hung curd (I used Greek Yogurt)

4 tbsp roasted ground almonds (I used candied almonds)

3 sachets Nescafe coffee pre-mix (can be substituted with regular instant coffee. Add as per your liking no less than 2 tbsp)

5 tbsp sugar (increase if using regular coffee. Taste and adjust accordingly)

Direction

In a bowl, take the cream and whip it with an electric mixer till stiff peaks. Add the milk, milk powder, and hung curd one at a time and whip it all together. In a separate mixer, mix the cake and the ground/whole almonds and add it to the cream. Mix everything until well combined. Now add the coffee and whip again. Lastly add the sugar as per taste and transfer to a freezer safe bowl with a lid. Freeze for 6-7 hours before serving or well set. I did not take it out in between this time to whip the ice cream to avoid ice crystals. If the cream has been perfectly whipped, this step can be skipped as per my experience with ice creams. You can decide to do it anyway. Enjoy your chilled coffee delight!

                                    

Choco Chip and Raisin Sweet Coffee Buns

Last evening, I was not in the mood to do any cooking and so decided to get a takeaway from one of the local eateries. I wasn't in the mood for any heavy meal and so picked up some coffee raisin buns for myself while husband decided to binge on some fresh fruits. One bite into the buns and I immediately knew my next baking experiment. Thankfully, I had a recipe to refer to from my friend Farrukh's blog. The result is a restaurant-quality super soft and yummy coffee bun which you can eat any time of the day. 

Ingredients (Makes 12 medium sized buns)

41/2 cup bread flour (or 4 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup wheat gluten)

2 tsp instant yeast

250 ml warm milk

1 egg

3 tsp instant coffee

1/3 cup castor sugar

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter plus more for brushing 

For the filling

Choco chip and raisins

Directions

In a bowl, mix butter, milk, and sugar. Add 1/2 cup flour and yeast and make a smooth paste. Keep aside covered in a warm place for 45 minutes.

In a separate bowl, take the flour and salt and mix well. Add the remaining sugar and mix. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture, egg and knead well to a soft and non-sticky dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for another ten minutes. Apply a little oil on the dough and cover with cling wrap. Keep in a warm place and let it rise for 2-21/2 hours or until double in size.

Once the dough has proofed, take it out on a floured surface and lightly knead the dough for few more minutes. Prepare a baking sheet. Take large lemon sized balls and make a small indentation in the center. Add about a teaspoon of the filling and close again into a ball. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. Line all the balls on the baking sheet about an inch apart and keep it covered with a cling wrap for another 45 minutes for the second proofing. 

Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree celsius on the toast mode (both the rods heated).

Brush the buns (which would have again doubled in size) with some milk and bake in the toast mode for 10-12 minutes until golden on top. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter while still hot and cover with a kitchen towel for few minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Your super soft buns are ready to be devoured.