Salted Caramel Swirl Ice Cream
(+3 rating, 3 votes)
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Pumpkins. Squash. Caramel…Ice cream. I know ice cream may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of fall. However, for me, ice cream is a year-round comfort food and I especially love making autumn-appropriate flavors. {My Sweet Potato Maple Pecan is one of my all-time favorites.} The sweet, saltiness of this caramel sauce paired with the creamy, refreshing French vanilla ice cream speaks autumn (although we enjoyed it just as much in the heat of August).
This summer I made my first two wedding cakes {more to come on that later} and I made salted caramel sauce for one of the cake’s filling. With the leftover sauce, my son discovered that he loved salted caramel sauce drizzled over his ice cream. So, it was a natural progression to swirl some into a batch of French Vanilla Ice Cream.
For the sauce, I referenced the salted caramel recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod which turned out to be the same as the caramel sauce I have made in the past, with the {optional} addition of Fleur de Sel. If you prefer plain caramel, simply omit the salt. You can reduce this recipe in half but I’ve found that if you’re going through the process of making caramel, why not have two jars of it to use for cake filling, ice cream topping, caramel apples, hostess gifts and more.
- 2 cups sugar
- 12 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp fleur de sel
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups milk (or half and half)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2+ spoonfuls of salted or plain caramel, to taste
- Heat the sugar in a 2-3 quart pan over medium-high heat until it starts to melt, at which point start whisking it.
- Continue whisking it as it clumps up, until it completely melts.
- Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches 350 degrees with a candy thermometer(it will be a dark amber color).
- Stir in the butter and mix it with a whisk or a wooden spoon until the butter melts.
- Remove it from the heat and slowly add the cream, stirring it constantly until a smooth sauce forms.
- If salted caramel is desired, stir in the fleur de sel and mix well until combined.
- In a large saucepan, beat the eggs, milk and sugar until well blended.
- Cook the egg mixture over low heat for roughly 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. It should smoothly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
- Let the mixture cool.
- Add the heavy cream and the vanilla.
- Stir until blended and refrigerate the mixture until it is completely chilled, for several hours or up to overnight.
- Following the instructions of your ice cream maker, pour the chilled mixture into your machine and stir it until the ice cream forms.
- As the ice cream forms, stir in several spoonfuls of caramel. You can also do this step by hand as you pour it into the freezer container, and stir it gently to get the caramel ribbon effect.
- It will typically be more like soft-serve when you first make it. If you want firmer ice cream, transfer it to a sealed container once it reaches the soft-serve consistency and let it freeze for several hours until it hardens.
- Recipe makes 1 quart of ice cream.
Tags: caramel ice cream, caramel ribbons, caramel swirl ice cream, French vanilla ice cream, homemade caramel, homemade ice cream, homemade salted caramel, ice cream, salted caramel, salted caramel sauce
Mon, Sep 30, 2013
Desserts, DessertStalking, Dishfolio, Foodgawker, Fun Family Activities, Holidays, Ice Cream & Frozen Treats, Itsy Bitsy Foodies Sightings, National Ice Cream Day, Photograzing, Search by Course, TasteSpotting