In Australia, they sell this yummy stuff in cartons in the supermarket. It is the most wonderfully cool and refreshing thing when it’s hot outside. My sister-in-law Dorothy makes this at home herself, using this recipe, and serves it with a big scoop of ice-cream on top.
Also, to make it a little more wicked, in the NOTES I’m offering a few special occasion alternatives..
EQUIPMENT:
- A liquidizer, or a hand held blender
- A large clear jug
- Tall glasses
- Long handled spoons/ drinking straws
- an ice cream scoop
INGREDIENTS: This made 4 really big glasses (see photographs)
- 3 heaped teaspoons of instant coffee, dissolved in a small amount of boiling water, and allowed to cool, or a couple of shots of espresso, cooled. I’m a coffee snob, but instant works fine for me in this recipe.
- 900ml of cold milk, straight from the fridge
- a teaspoon of vanilla paste
- 1 dessertspoon of caster sugar (optional, taste it first and see)
- About half a carton of vanilla ice cream, straight from the freezer (for this recipe, I put in 175g, and used the rest as a topping)
METHOD:
- Put everything except the sugar into the liquidizer, and blend until the ice cream is broken up.
- Taste, and add sugar, or any of the other ingredients as needed. Blend again. There will be a lovely coffee-coloured froth on top.
- pour into a large jug, or individual glasses
TO SERVE:
- Put a scoop of ice-cream into each glass, and top it off with the coffee
- Offer straws and long-handled spoons to reach the end of the glasses – or forget the spoons and make that lovely slurpy noise (that drives you mad when children do it!) when you get to the end of the glass!
NOTES:
- To make some adult-only Iced Coffees, use smaller glasses (about half the size of the ones in the pictures) and add a shot of your favourite spirit – so Whiskey, Baileys, Rum, Tia Maria.. the choice is yours. This is a great idea as a lazy dessert after dinner, to be sipped slowly, as the sun goes down
- For those on reduced or non-dairy diets, try using non-dairy milks such as Almond or Oat milk and a really good non-dairy ice-cream. The one we use is called Swedish Glace. You honestly wouldn’t know it was dairy-free.. Thanks to my niece Claire @biacomida who came up with this variation recently..
Claire’s Almond-milk Iced coffee
- I have found that you can also make it with low-fat milk and ice-cream, and it still tastes great, so you can indulge with a (relatively) clear conscience!
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx