The clear winner in the most recent ice cream taste test extravaganza? Mocha. It’s creamy. It’s chocolatey. It has a coffee underflavor (is that a word? hrmm, I don’t think so but it should be!), but the coffee flavor doesn’t trump the chocolate flavor. This ice cream was a favorite with the triathlon ladies, the teenagers, the over 50 crowd–and it was even a favorite of two non-coffee drinkers! The original recipe was found at The Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen site. I adapted that recipe for use in a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker (did you get yours from Costco yet? Go on, go get it…, you’ll use it all summer!).

Mocha Ice Cream

2 cups Half-and-half
4 ounces Espresso or very strong coffee (just make sure it’s not bitter), cooled
1 cup Whipping Cream
1 can (14 oz. Can) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup (1/2 a can)

Optional toppings:

Crushed Heath Bars
More chocolate syrup
Whipped cream

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Refrigerate this mixture for 2 -4 hours until mixture is very cold (or put in freezer for 20 minutes to chill). Pour into electric ice cream freezer/machine and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Remove slushy ice cream to a bowl and freeze until firm. Serve with chocolate syrup, heath bars pieces and whipped cream.

Variations:

Mint Mocha:  add a teaspoon of mint extract to the mix before refrigeration. To serve, sprinkle with chopped Andes Mint pieces.

Mocha Chip:  add mini chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate, to slushy ice cream just before putting into the freezer.

Java Chip:  add some crushed coffee beans to slushy ice cream just before putting into freezer.