Amaretto Dream Cream

In an attempt to use up some milk (once again, concerned about our refrigerator's cooling abilities), I decided to try preparing a specialty ice cream. Inspired by a cheesecake that my mom once made with amaretto, I came up with the following recipe:

Amaretto Dream Cream

Makes 8-10 servings

4 c. whole milk

3/4 c. sugar

dozen coffee beans

pinch of salt

3 tbsp. amaretto

3 tbsp. corn starch

Additional amaretto for topping (optional)

First, bring the milk, sugar, salt, and coffee beans to a boil over medium-high heat in a large pot, stirring constantly. Once it boils, turn off heat and set aside for about half an hour. This will allow the milk to take some of the coffee flavor from the beans. As the milk is steeping, mix amaretto and corn starch together to form a thick paste. Remove and discard the coffee beans from milk after the steeping step is complete. Add the amaretto and corn starch mixture and bring to a boil again. Once this comes to a boil, turn heat down and let simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. This heating step allows for the corn starch to thicken the milk a bit. Set aside and let cool to room temp. Now, dump the contents of the pot into a storage container and let cool in the refrigerator overnight. Because of the very low freezing point of alcohol, this ice cream batter needs extra cooling steps. After an overnight chill, pour the mixture into the powered ice cream maker (making sure to pre-freeze the ice cream maker foot if you have a Cuisinart like me) and let freeze for 15-20 minutes. I added another dash of fresh amaretto at this step, so do so if you wish (but not too much because it will make it hard to freeze). You will probably notice that the texture is still a bit soft. This is, again, due to the amaretto liquor. Therefore, take the ice cream maker foot with the semi-frozen ice cream, cover and place in the freezer for about 4 hours, and repeat the freezing step again. This time it should resemble creamy, cold ice cream! Serve immediately or place into a freezer-safe container and freeze for future ice cream cravings. 

Steeping the coffee beans with the milk.
You can see I'm using Denver's "trendy" Dazbog coffee beans.
It would also be nice to substitute coffee beans for vanilla beans! 

Mixing corn starch with amaretto.
Note: The amaretto I used is called, Amaretto Paolucci by
Paolucci Liquori Ltd.  It tastes almost identical
to Disaronno, but at half the cost. 

The nifty Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker!
Working hard to freeze the amaretto-milk batter.
Sometimes I sneak spoonfuls of the ice cream at this
barely-frozen step! Sort of the equivalent of sampling
cookie batter before you bake it. 

This is the finished dream cream!
I dreamt it up and it is fabulous.
I recommend topping your scoop with a drizzle of
amaretto from the bottle.  Here I have it paired with an
almond biscotti.  If you are feeling adventurous, drop a
scoop into a hot cup of dark roasted, strong coffee!

For some additional incentive to buy a bottle of amaretto liquor, try drizzling over a bowl of fresh cut fruit, stir into pancake batter, or explore some fun cocktail recipes (there are hundreds out there)! I would also recommend trying it on the rocks on a hot summer evening as a simple after dinner night cap that makes your taste buds sing with notes of almonds and apricots.