Mudslide Ice Cream

The Mudslide is a dessert cocktail made with vodka, Kahlua and Bailey’s Irish cream. Those ingredients are typically blended with ice until they reach a milkshake-like consistency and the drink is served in a chocolate syrup-laced glass with a straw. It’s decadent, it’s over-the-top and it’s delicious. The cocktail is already frozen, but I decided to take it a step further and turn it into a batch of Mudslide Ice Cream!

This ice cream is an eggless recipe, which means that it involves almost no cooking. I saw “almost” because you do have to heat up the milk to dissolve the sugar in it as you make the ice cream base, but that only takes a couple of minutes. Since the entire base is not heated, it will be chilled and ready to go into your ice cream maker much more quickly. You do need an ice cream maker to get the best results from this recipe. I always recommend getting an ice cream maker if you think that you’ll make ice cream more than once or twice a year. As good as the no-churn recipes are, it’s nice to have the option to do other styles of ice cream – like this one – as well.

The ice cream contains a generous amount of both Kahlua and Irish cream (I used Bailey’s, but there are other brands available, as well), along with vanilla extract and some instant espresso powder. The instant espresso bumps up the coffee flavor from the Kahlua, giving the ice cream a deeper and more complex flavor. I prefer instant espresso powder because it is stronger than instant coffee, but you can substitute instant coffee by doubling the amount called for in the recipe. The cocktail includes vodka, but that doesn’t add much to the ice cream, so I opted not to include it.

Once churned, the ice cream will have to chill for a couple of hours until it is firm enough to scoop. Serve it in a chocolate fudge-lined glass to get the same effect as you do from the cocktail version, or simply drizzle chocolate sauce over the top to make a sudae!

Mudslide Ice Cream
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 3/4 cups milk (pref. whole)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp instant espresso powder (or 2 tsp instant coffee)
3 tbsp Kahlua
3 tbsp Irish cream liqueur

In a small saucepan, combine milk and sugar. Heat, stirring regularly, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in instant espresso/coffee powder and vanilla extract. Stir in cream, Kahlua and Irish cream liqueur. Refrigerate until chilled.
Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.
Once the ice cream is chilled, transfer it to a freezer-safe container and chill until firm, at least 2 hours.