Monthly micro-batch: spicy café con leche ice cream

While I was in Boston visiting friends over the holiday, my good friend, Jodi, gave me a disc of chocolate from local producer, Taza. Called Chocolate Mexicano, it inspired me to create a fun micro-batch with cayenne peppers I dried during the summer and some of my favorite locally roasted coffee, Ritual Roasters.

Ingredients:

• 1 C coffee
• 1/8 - 1/4 C sugar (err on the side of less since the chocolate already has sugar in it)
• 1 dried cayenne pepper
• 1 C half-and-half
• 1/2 C whipping cream
• 1 disc of Chocolate Mexican, chopped rough

Instructions:
Gently heat the coffee over a medium flame. Dissolve the sugar and reduce the coffee by half. Cut the pepper into large pieces and add to the coffee mixture. Mix in the half-and-half and whipping cream. Heat till almost bubbling then remove from the heat. Let it cool then put in the fridge over night to allow the flavors to meld.

Before processing in the ice cream machine, strain through cheese cloth to remove the chunks of pepper. Process till smooth in the ice cream machine. Add the chocolate to mix in, then freeze to harden it up a bit.