All Things Ice Cream Blog

I don’t know how many of you have visited your local Starbucks lately, but they have this “new” flavor of hot cocoa called Salted Caramel.  I found a nice copy cat recipe for the salted caramel hot cocoa drink yesterday and it reminded me of the great recipe I found for salted caramel ice cream.

vs.

The short non-fat no-whip salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks packs a whopping 270 calories!  Which would you rather have?  A bowl of ice cream or a small glass of hot chocolate?

Caramel apples are a great fall treat.  An even better treat is a caramel apple made with ice cream!  Here is a simple way to make these tasty “apples” for your guests.

You’ll need:

- a half sphere mold to make the apple pieces

- ice cream (we prefer homemade so check out our vanilla recipe)

- 1 granny smith apple sliced thinly

- 1/2 cup of caramel sauce (you can make your own with condensed milk)

- 1/2 cup of nuts (peanuts, pecans, walnuts — whatever you like)

- 4 skewers

Assembling these ice cream caramel apples is the best part (well, after eating them, of course).  Ask your kids to join in.  In fact, make a party out of it.  Instead of a normal ice cream sundae party, have an ice cream caramel apple party!

1. Fill the spheres with ice cream.

2. Place the mold in the freezer until the ice cream is firm.

3. Remove one ice cream half sphere from the mold and place it on a plate with the rounded side facing down.

4. Place a slice of apple on top of the ice cream.

5. Place another half sphere of ice cream on top of the apple slice.

6. Insert a skewer into the “apple” to hold it together.

7. Drizzle caramel sauce on the apple.

8. Sprinkle nuts on the apple.

Repeat these steps to create as many apples as you need.  Guests can either eat the creation right off the plate or off the stick.  If they are going to eat it off the stick you should put the apples back in the freezer to let the caramel sauce harden so it’s not as messy.

Here’s a great video demonstration by Blue Bunny:

I don’t know about any of the rest of you, but I enjoy ice cream all year round.  Yes, even in the frigid days of winter up here in Maine.  It’s never too cold for ice cream.

With fall fast approaching I decided to seek out some “fall flavors” for you guys to enjoy.  When I think of fall I think of caramel.

SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM

350 grams of organic whole milk
450 grams organic heavy cream
120 grams organic egg yolks
100 grams organic demerara sugar
1 ½ tsp sea salt
½ vanilla bean, split

In a small saucepan, simmer the whole milk, heavy cream and the split vanilla bean scrapping all the vanilla seeds.

In a large saucepan, we are going to make a dry caramel with the demerara. Heat the saucepan and sprinkle about half of the sugar on it. The sugar will slowly start to melt and turn brown, keep sprinkling more sugar over it until you have incorporated all of it. Stir with a wooden spoon so it caramelizes evenly. It will start to turn darker and it might even have a burnt caramel smell. This is what we want but be careful that it does not burn. Turn the heat off.

Slowly whisk half of the warm milk and cream mixture into the caramel. This mixture will start to bubble up so be careful not to add too much at once or it will over flow. Keep whisking until bubbles disappear and add the remainder of the milk.

If you feel there are crystallized caramel pieces in the bottom of the pan, turn heat on and let them melt again.

Temper the caramel mixture into the egg yolks. Pour this back into the saucepan and cook until thermometer reaches 82ºC. Be careful not to overcook it because it will curdle. Remove from heat and add sea salt. This is going to be the ice cream base.

Strain the ice cream base into a clean bowl and place it on an ice bath so it cools down quickly. Refrigerate it for at least 4 hours before churning it in the ice cream machine. I usually leave it in the refrigerator over night. Churn it according to your machines’ instructions and freeze it.

It seems like a lot of work, huh?  Well, I can guarantee it’s worth it.  Here’s a great video about making salted caramel ice cream:

Did you know it’s very easy to make caramel sauce?  All you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk!

Eagle Brand’s site mentions these methods…

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (NOT EVAPORATED MILK)

OVEN METHOD: Pour 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk into 9″ pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil; place in larger shallow pan. Fill larger pan with hot water. Bake at 425°F for 1 hour or until thick and caramel-colored. Beat until smooth.

STOVETOP METHOD: Pour 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk into top of double boiler; place over boiling water. Over low heat, simmer 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until thick and caramel-colored, stirring occasionally. Beat until smooth.

MICROWAVE METHOD: Pour 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk into 2-quart glass measuring cup. Cook on 50% power (medium) 4 minutes, stirring briskly every 2 minutes until smooth. Cook on 30% power (medium-low) 20 to 25 minutes or until very thick and caramel-colored, stirring briskly every 4 minutes during the first 16 minutes and every 2 minutes during the last 4 to 10 minutes.

“For safety reasons, heating the unopened can (an old cooking method) is NOT recommended.”

The warning about heating the unopened can is met with mixed reviews on the web.

Karyn of KarynForYou, boiled her can for 2 hours and it came out fine.   The warning is in place due to the risk of the can exploding.  I think it would be easiest to boil the can, however, it’s safest to use the oven or double boiler.

<– Karyn’s can of condensed milk boiling.