Caramel Ice Cream

This ice cream was a big hit with pretty much everyone. It almost tasted like a werther's caramel but in cold creamy form. Once you make the ice cream there's lots of awesome things to do with it like add candies or chocolate chips to the mix, make milkshakes and smoothies, and ice cream sandwiches to name a few. Something I really wanted to do with it was Caramel Apple Pie- an apple pie with a scoop of the caramel ice cream on top so the flavors are literally a combo of a caramel apple and pie. This idea then lead to maple syrup ice cream on waffles.

My first batch of caramel ended up getting really crystallized and chunky. It happened because there were too many sugar crystals on the sides of the pan. To prevent this add the sugar to the pan first and then pour the water slowly all around the pan to wash sugar off sides. Stir carefully with the fork until all sugar is covered in water but none is one sides.

If you don't want caramel ice cream but just a hint of caramel, churn the vanilla ice cream base and then swirl the caramel in before you freeze the ice cream.

Ingredients:

Ice Cream Base: yields about 3 cups of Ice cream (good for a standard ice cream machine)

1 cup whole milk
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream

For Caramel:
3/4 cups sugar
1/6 cup water (just measure by filling a 1/3 cup half way)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

To Make Ice Cream Base:

1. Heat the milk in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow in color and the sugar has dissolved.

3. Gradually pour the warmed milk into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

4. Pour the mixture back into the same saucepan you used to warm the milk. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

5. Strain the custard with a very fine strainer or seive into a heat proof bowl.

6. Add the heavy cream and stir until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly, at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.



To make Caramel:

1. Heat the sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat the sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and swirl the pan so the sugar melts evenly, and continue cooking until it is a dark amber color.

2. Carefully add the heavy cream (the mixture will splatter) and cook, stirring until all the caramel has dissolved. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and stir in the sea salt and vanilla.

3. Set the caramel mixture over a bowl filled with ice water and stir until chilled to room temperature.

4. Combine the caramel mixture with the Ice Cream Base by pouring the caramel slowly into the cream base and whisking constantly. Keep mixing until caramel is evenly distributed.

5. Place mixture back in fridge to cool. The cooler the mix is before churning, the better the ice cream will be.

6. To churn ice cream simply follow the directions for your ice cream machine. Once churned, place in a container with an air tight lid and freeze until ice cream is super cold.