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I woke Saturday morning to a cold rain. Then the sun came out and the skies were almost clear. Then a big wicked wind kicked up and it started snowing.
And it kept snowing, big flakes.
And it snowed some more. We didn’t have a major snow event but the wind blew in some seriously cold temperatures. What is a girl to do on a rainy, sunny, snowy day? Make ice cream of course!
I went out to the freezing garage and found my hand-dandy Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. Then I pulled out this recipe that’s been in my ‘to be made next’ file and got to work. This is another one of those multi-step recipes I have a passion for. Who needs a one bowl recipe anyway? This is totally worth a few simple steps!
First we’ll make the simple caramel praline. Spread 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a large saucepan or skillet. Heat on medium until the sugar starts to melt.
Keep stirring the mixture in easy motions to help liquefy the sugar. Once all the sugar is dissolved continue cooking until the mixture starts smoking and beings to smell like it is about to burn. This step doesn’t take very long so don’t walk away. Remove the caramel from the heat and sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon sea salt. Do not stir the salt into the caramel.
Pour the caramel praline onto a Silpat lined baking sheet. If you don’t have a Silpat, lightly grease a baking sheet with unflavored oil. Immediately being swirling the pan to spread the mixture as thin as possible. Set aside to cool.
Break the pralines into small pieces and store in an airtight container until needed.
For the ice cream you will need egg yolks, sea salt, butter, vanilla, heavy cream, whole milk and sugar.
Separate the eggs adding the yolks to a medium mixing bowl. Save the egg whites for another use.
Whisk the egg yolks until blended. Set aside.
Prepare an ice bath by filling a large metal mixing bowl with ice and water until it is about 1/3 full.
Place a smaller metal bowl over the ice bath and add 1 cup of milk to the clean, dry bowl.
Place a strainer over the milk and set aside.
Pour the remaining sugar in a large skillet and heat over medium until it starts to caramelize using the same method previously described.
Once the caramel starts to smoke and begins to smell like it will burn, remove it from the heat.
Immediately add the butter and salt.
Keep stirring until the butter is melted.
Next slowly stir in the heavy cream.
The caramel mixture will seize or lump but keep stirring. Return the ice cream mixture to a low heat and keep stirring until it is smooth and the lumps are melted.
Add the last cup of milk and stir until completely incorporated.
This mixture looks and smells like pure caramel. You may be drooling at this stage – I was!
Temper the beaten egg yolks by slowly whisking in some of the hot caramel mixture.
Whisk until combined.
Now add the egg yolk mixture back into the caramel.
Stirring constantly, cook the caramel until it beings to thicken or reaches 160-170 degrees.
Pour the caramel through the strainer into the milk sitting over the ice bath. Whisk until blended.
Add the vanilla and stir until smooth.
Once cooled, place the ice cream mixture in a sealed container and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.
When ready to make the ice cream, pour the caramel custard into the ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer instructions.
This is a very soft ice cream so it may not harden completely. Remove from the ice cream maker and stir in the broken pieces of caramel praline. Store in an air tight container and freeze until the mixture is firm.
If you like caramel, you’ll love this ice cream. It’s worth every single step!
Nothing better than ice cream on a snowy, cold day 🙂
Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours 45 minutes
Yield: 10
Course: Dessert
Salted caramel ice cream with homemade caramel praline mixed in.
Equipment
- 1 Ice cream maker
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon good quality Sea Salt divided (do not use table salt)
- 2 cups whole milk divided
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- ½ pint 1 cup fresh heavy cream
- 5 egg yolks lightly whisked
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the caramel praline candy:
- Line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat or lightly grease the pan with an unflavored oil. Set aside.
- In a large skillet or saucepan, add ½ cup of sugar. Heat over medium until the sugar begins to melt. Slowly stir the mixture until all the sugar has liquefied. Continue stirring and cooking until the praline begins to smoke and starts to smell like it will burn. Immediately remove the praline from the heat and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon sea salt. Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and tilt the pan to spread the mixture very thin. Set aside
For the ice cream:
- Prepare a large metal mixing bowl by adding ice and water until it is about⅓ full. Place a smaller bowl on the ice and add 1 cup of milk to the inner bowl. Place a strainer over the milk. You'll use this in a few minutes. Next spread 1 ½ cups sugar in a clean large skillet or saucepan. Heat over medium heat to melt the sugar as in the previous step above. Once caramelized remove the sugar from the heat. Stir in the butter and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt until combined. Gradually stir in the heavy cream. The mixture will harden and seize. Return the mixture to a medium low heat stirring until all the caramel has melted again. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of milk.
- Slowly add about 1 cup of the hot mixture into the yolks whisking to temper the eggs. If added all at once you will make scrambled eggs - so use a slow steady stream of hot mixture while whisking the eggs. Add the tempered eggs back into the skillet and return it to the heat. Cook until the mixture thickens or reaches 160°-170°F.
- Pour the custard mixture through the strainer into the remaining milk over the ice bath. Whisk until combined. Stir occasionally until the custard is cool. Place the custard in a sealed container and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.
- Add the custard to your ice cream maker and process according to the directions. Once soft frozen, stir in the broken praline pieces and freeze in an airtight container until firm. This is a very soft ice cream and due to it's rich flavor, a small scoop may be enough.
Recipe Notes
(adapted from a recipe by David Lebovitz)
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.
Nutrition
Calories: 334kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 298mg | Potassium: 108mg | Sugar: 43g | Vitamin A: 697IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 0.3mg
Em (Wine and Butter)
YAY! I love it – I bought a frozen yogurt the other day – the day before it started snowing in fact. The guy in the shop looked at me like I was out and out bonkers! So pleased you do it too!!<br /><br />Salted caramel ice cream is actually Louis favourite! Ive promised myself no more desserts until Ive lost the last 2 of my xmas pounds (so much harder to do as I get older!)<br /><br />BUT Ive
Gloria
Look absolutely nice, I love Ice creams too! every time of the years and your pictures snowing are beautiful!!! Im following you!
Angie's Recipes
The caramel ice cream looks really tasty. Love the step-by-step tutorial of making caramel. <br />The baby Isaac looks so adorable….once again, Congratulations!
Anna and Liz Recipes
Tricia this ice cream sounds delicious! And the baby is so precious. 🙂
Anna and Liz Recipes
Hi Tricia,<br /> Glad the baby and family are doing well! I posted your smoothie the other day and mentioned your blog along with a link, I don't know if you had a chance to see it.(Pina Colada smoothie post.)
Mary
I'm so happy to hear that your daughter and Isaac are doing great. He is adorable! My youngest is not yet two and so, I'll assure you that one week is REALLY early for turning over! Way to go, Isaac – just don't start crawling next month. Let your mama catch her breath!<br /><br />This ice cream looks insanely delicious! I just pinned it to try this year. Do the praline pieces stay
Tricia
Thanks for the comment Mary! I didn't realize your baby was so young – you just went through this yourself. Such fun! <br />The ice cream is rich and delicious and the one little scoop I had still had plenty of crunch. I will have some more soon – I'm sure. Ice cream is great because it can be eaten over a long period of time without going bad! I hope some of the praline does get
Tanna at The Brick Street Bungalow
Tricia, this ice cream sounds yummy… love the salty with the creamy and sweet! So glad Baby Isaac and Momma are doing well… they do change and grow so very fast! blessings ~ tanna