Coffee Ice Cream Pie

This really should be posted under weekend misadventures. But seeing that it wasn't made during the weekend nor it was really a misadventure, it will be recognized as its own post.

For my birthday this year (3 years until 30!), I did myself the favor of chopping off 12-13 inches (I'm not sure of the exact measurement) of my hair to donate. Then I congratulate myself for the new haircut by making myself an ice cream pie for my birthday.


The ice cream pie recipe came from The Pioneer Woman. The ice cream recipe was supposed to be from Ina Garten at The Food Network website. However, I ended up doing something entirely different.

Because I had dirty hands from separating the eggs, I couldn't get a clear shot of the egg whites (I'm sorry) so you'll have to do with this shot of the egg yolks. But remember that I saved the egg whites for the crust.



Three yolks separated from the whites as you can see. I used the yolks for the ice cream and the whites for the crust. No wasting food!

Beat the yolks with 1/3 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.



I was watching Larkrise to Candleford with my sister and realized that back then, to make a cake or a pastry or anything, they have to do every by hand! OMG, beat eggs by hands... Hard core.

To the stove, I heated up 2 cups of heavy cream. I love this stuff, I cannot get enough of heavy cream. I did not boil the cream. No sir! I only heated it until the steam started to rise and little bubbles started to form around the edges. Then the heated cream were added to the egg yolks and sugar mixture.



I made my sister make me a shot of espresso because she was super fancy and had an espresso machine. The pot which I used to heat the cream was wiped clean while I mix the cream with egg mixture. Cream and eggs then got poured back into the wiped clean pot. This step is a bit crazy, I know. The egg/cream pot went back to the stove. The pot was all *whine* Why do I have to do all of the work????



I threw in the shot of espresso and said Awaken eggs and cream! Rise and shine! Well, they didn't exactly rise nor shine but I bet them little eggs and cream molecules got a nice caffeine jolt. They stewed on medium high heat until the mixture got creamy enough to coat my spoon. It was fun to dip in the spoon and pull it up to test the viscosity.



The whole thing went back onto the counter for a bit of sieving. That is, run the mixture through a fine sieve to separate the chunky egg proteins that had been unlucky enough to be denatured. Class, remember to wear your safety goggles and use that pipette carefully! Use the stirring rod gently so you won't break the beakers. My ice cream session sounded more and more like chemistry lab...only it's much tastier than a chemistry lab.

Anyhow, that nice and smooth mixture went into the fridge to chill until it was completely cooled. Then I went to look for my egg whites and started to beat them.



Bubbly. If you have a sister like me, set her to work by having her chop 1 cup of almonds for you. The Pioneer Woman said to use pecans but I am not friendly with pecans so I buddied up with almonds. While my sister was slaving away, I added 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the egg whites. Then whipped the hell out of the egg whites. This process took me about 10 minutes because I really enjoy seeing some puny egg whites transforming into a foamy meringue mass.



See? Crazy! Another shot because I love it so much.



So basically, you want the egg whites to become stiff enough that when you pull up, the peak will stay up.



And if you're as crazy as I am, you'd start to make foam sculpture with the whipped egg whites, too. Kinda like shampoo sculptures, only tastier.



Then I snatched the almonds from my sister and cackled Bwahahahah, sucker! You will never see the ice cream pie!!!! It's all MINE! I'm a big supporter of child labor. Wait...my sister is not a child anymore. Darn.



The almonds got folded into the egg whites in batches because I like to play with my food.



...until it was all coated in the beautiful winter wonderland.



I even took the time to spread all of those goodness over a pan. It was fun.



Then I baked it like mad (i.e. at 350 degrees F) for 20 minutes. I had it put in a small convection oven so it only took 20 minutes. Depending on your oven, keep checking it until it's all nice and golden brown.



Is the cream/egg mixture cool yet? Gee golly! If it's nice and cooled, remove and dump it in an ice cream maker. If you're not as lucky as I am to get an ice cream maker for Christmas, please follow this painstaking slow process as described by David Lebovitz. To comfort yourself, say this People have been making ice cream this way since they first knew how to make ice cream! LeTran is just being a pompous ass! It'll make you feel a lot better. Or, you could throw the whole ice cream making process out of the window and buy some Ben&Jerry &trade.





Look at that creamy goodness which was my offspring. Ice creams that just came out of the maker are always soft and creamy, so I didn't need to do anything else. If you bought the ice creams, be sure to let it soften for a bit. Bring in the crust.



Slather on the ice cream.





Smooth off the top, cover in foil and freeze until you feel like eating it. Don't worry about my slave, a.k.a, sister, she got a huge piece.

Espresso Ice Cream Pie
(Printable recipe)

Ice cream ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 shot espresso
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
1 pinch of salt

Pie crust ingredients:

1/4 cup egg whites (or roughly egg whites from 3 eggs)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup sugar

Directions

For the ice cream:
In a pot, heat the heavy cream until steam starts to rise and edges are bubbly.
In a separate bow, beat the egg yolks with sugar, salt and vanilla extract.
Pour the heated cream into the egg yolk bowl. Stir well. Wipe pot clean.
Return pot to stove and pour back the cream and egg mixture.
Add espresso shot.
Heat on medium heat until mixture is creamy enough to coat a spoon.
Remove from heat and run mixture through a fine sieve.
Chill in refrigerator until mixture is thoroughly cooled.
Pour into ice cream maker per manufacture's instruction.

For the crust:
Beat egg whites until bubbly.
Add sugar and salt.
Whip egg whites until it can hold its peak.
Fold in chopped almonds.
Spread evenly and up on the sides of a pie pan.
Bake in oven at 350 degrees F until it's golden brown.

Assembly:
Spread ice cream over baked crust.
Cover with a sheet of foil and freeze until harden.
Serve with The Pioneer Woman's caramel.

Explanations:
1. I did not make the caramel sauce because it was my birthday and I felt like the caramel was going to ruin my ice cream experience. One reason was that caramel is a bad heat conductor so it always have a different temperature from the ice cream and that bothers me.
2. Ina Garten's recipe for espresso ice cream requires coffee beans and flakes and such. I do not have coffee beans and instant coffee and chocolate on hand, so I made the recipe much shorter. It still ended up tasting a lot like coffee, so I forgave myself.
3. As it turned out, I could barely taste the egg white crust. It was just ice cream and almonds. So next time, I will skip the egg whites and just make ice cream with sprinkled almonds on top. Although, I really enjoy beating those egg whites...so I don't know.