Cappuccino Ice Cream and "50/50"

Ice cream is the perfect treat for any hot summer night and, of course, for any movie night! A timeless treat that children, teenagers, and adults have been enjoying for years and homemade ice cream is the way to go. You can customize it to just about any flavor you'd like and you might even surprise yourself just how good your own ice cream can be. An ice cream maker may not be a regular in every home's kitchen but with many options to fit various budgets, I'd highly recommend you look into getting one. This week, I'm pairing my ice cream with the 2011 film 50/50 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogan. Taking place in the beautiful Pacific Northwest city of Seattle, I couldn't help but be inspired by the city's love for coffee. This isn't going to be just any coffee ice cream though, I call this my Cappuccino ice cream because I fold in some fresh whipped cream in at the end to represent the frothy top of the cappuccino everyone loves!

3 cups of heavy cream

1 cup of half and half

2½ Tablespoons of Instant Coffee

3/4 cups of sugar - plus 1 teaspoon

¼ teaspoon of Vanilla extract 

In a small saucepan, pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and heat over a medium low heat. Once the cream begins to steam just slightly, add instant coffee and stir in until it's dissolved completely. Once the coffee has been incorporated, add 3/4 of a cup of sugar and mix into the cream. Once the sugar has dissolved, should only take a minute or two, stir in a ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and  remove the cream from the heat.

In a large glass measuring cup or a mixing bowl, pour in the cream that we just sweetened and infused with coffee flavor. To that, add the half and half and 1½ cups of additional heavy cream. We're reserving the last ½ of a cup of cream to make fresh whipped cream that we'll fold into our ice cream a little later.

Gently mix the cream mixture together. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes or so. Place a metal whisk and a metal or glass mixing bowl in the freezer - we'll need this for making our whipped cream. Once the cream has chilled, pour it into your ice cream maker and allow the ice cream to churn for about 25 minutes (depending on the model ice cream maker you have.)

While the ice cream is churning, now is a good time to make our whipped cream. Using the bowl and whisk we placed in the freezer, beat the heavy cream along with an additional splash of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat the cream until soft peeks begin to form and store the whipped cream in the refrigerator for the time being.

You'll know that this ice cream is ready once it begins to resemble soft serve ice cream. Remove the ice cream from the inside of the ice cream maker and scrape into a container to be placed inside your freezer. Gently fold in our whipped cream into the coffee ice cream and freeze the ice cream for about an hour until the ice cream has had a chance to firm up. Once the cream has set, scoop out a dish and head to our at home movie theater for this weeks film, 50/50.

Based loosely on screen writer Will Reiser's own life experiences, the movie follows a young man who finds out he has cancer and the dramatic and life changing events that follow. Joseph Gorden-Levitt plays Adam, a 27 year old non-smoker, non-drinker, exercise daily, eat all the right things kind of guy who finds out he has a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) and a young and inexperienced hospital psychiatrist Katherine (Anna Kendrick) Adam tries to cope with the stress and strain of his illness. 50/50 is a film with a lot of heart mixed with humor despite the emotional story.

The cast for 50/50 is one of the films greatest strengths. Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to shine in leading roles over the past few years and his performance in 50/50 is among them. I was convinced when I first saw the film he would have at least been honored with an Oscar nomination. Anjelica Huston gives a strong performance for what little time she's on screen as the overbearing but lovable mother. Seth Rogen gives the best performance so far in his career playing the supporting role of the best friend who tries to lighten the mood in his own way. Though he focuses more on using Adam's cancer as a way to pick up girls, he still brings the element of the concerned best friend. Bryce Dallas Howard also lends her talents as Rachael, Adams girlfriend who sees is illness as more of a burden than anything else.

While 50/50 certainly deals with a very sensitive subject, it manages to tell a dramatic real life story but still works well in delivering a good amount of laughs when appropriate. To make a film about cancer was a huge risk but the pay off was even greater. One of the better dramatic comedies to arrive on screen in recent years, 50/50 is a must see. Click the link here to watch the trailer for the film.