THE BEST SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM EVER!

THE BEST SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM EVER!

I am not a big fan of ice cream, I never have been. Not sure why. I just never found it particularly enjoyable to eat. Maybe its because I have sensitive teeth and it hurts, maybe its because you get brain freeze when you eat it too quickly. Its just never been something that excited me much.

I do like Ben & Jerry’s however, but I think that’s more to do with the ‘bits’ inside rather than the ice cream. My perfect friend would be one that loves the ice cream and not the bits. Marriage made in heaven! My favourite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is Caramel Chew Chew - caramel ice cream with swirls of caramel and chocolate covered caramel pieces. Incredible.

So anyway, on Friday night, I had 8 friends over for dinner and last week I was trying to think of a pudding I could make that would be easy, tasty and could be made in advance so I didn’t need to spend the whole night in the kitchen. I decided to make a batch of chocolate brownies and serve them warm, topped with a scoop of caramel ice cream. But, never one to make life easy for myself, I decided to make the ice cream instead of buying it.

I searched for recipes for salted caramel ice cream and came across this one which looked the least complicated. The recipe below serves 4 people. I doubled the quantities for my dinner party. I suggest making more rather than less of this. IT TASTES AMAZING!! I’m not blowing my own horn here, I just followed the recipe. But anything that mixes sugar and cream together is always going to taste great.

PLEASE try out this recipe if you get a chance. I don’t have an ice cream maker so it took a bit more effort but my goodness, it was worth it! If you do have an ice cream maker, you have absolutely no excuse not to make it. It really is so easy and it really does taste so delicious. Its creamy, in taste and texture and the hint of salt cuts through the sweetness. Yummmmm!!

Ingredients

6floz/170g caster sugar
8floz/225ml double cream
5floz/150ml semi-skimmed milk
4 egg yolks
½ tsp Maldon sea salt

Method

Place a pan on the stove to heat. Once hot, put 5oz/140g of the caster sugar into the pan.

Heat, shaking the pan occasionally until the sugar melts to a good caramel colour.

Add the double cream and bring back to the boil.

Then finally add the milk.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl beat the egg yolks and remaining caster sugar until pale and mousse-like (this is called a sabayon).

Pour the hot caramel on to the sabayon and whisk well, then sieve and chill it.

Add the salt to the chilled mixture and churn in an ice cream machine.

Alternatively, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can churn it by hand.

To do this, pour the ice cream mixture into a deep bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer.


After 45 minutes, open the door and check it. As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. Really beat it up and break up any frozen sections. Return to freezer.

Continue to check the mixture every 20-30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing.

If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer for best results.

Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 3-4 hours to be ready.

This ice cream actually melts quite quickly so don’t leave it out too long before scooping it.

It tasted AMAZING when served with the hot chocolate brownie. PLEASE give this a go if you can.