Salted Caramel Ice Cream, for Lola

May 23, 2012  •  Desserts,

I’ve got a thing for unusual, interesting ice cream flavors. After having mastered the basics of a good vanilla custard ice cream, I’m constantly seeking out new ideas. Turns out my hairdresser Lola (who I might add has been doing my hair since I arrived in Colorado in 1985!) was recently on a vacation in Hawaii and mentioned she had had some salted caramel gelato and fell in love with it. Inspiration!I figured I would make this not only to see if I could figure out a good recipe for it, but also as a surprise treat for Lola. The recipe has some salt mixed into the caramel, but I found serving it with a few sprinkles of fleur de sel on top really elevates it to something special. Hope Lola likes it!

3.7 from 3 reviews
Salted Caramel Ice Cream
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups sugar, divided
  • 6 cups heavy cream, at room temperature, divided
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt, flaky kind like fleur de sel
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 egg yolks
  • fleur de sel sea salt, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Heat 1 cup of the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally with a fork, until dissolved and dark amber in color, taking care not to burn. Whisk in 1 cup of the cream very carefully as it will bubble and sputter. When the caramel is completely dissolved into the cream, remove from the heat and stir in the sea salt and vanilla; set aside to cool.
  2. Combine remaining ½ cup sugar, 2 cups of the cream, and the egg yolks in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Whisk together until smooth and then continue to stir until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and combine with caramel sauce. pour in the remaining 3 cups of cream and stir together; chill, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions, then place in the freezer to firm up completely. Serve with a garnish of fleur de sel sea salt on top.

 

Comments

4 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. Lea Ann says:

    Me Too!!! I made lavender ice cream once with my basic vanilla recipe that I love. And like you, I prefer the custard, chill overnight method. I really like this idea of salt and caramel. Thanks for posting the recipe Michele. Pinning.

  2. Rikki says:

    Oh gosh, this looks so good. I bet the salt and caramel taste incredible together. Mmm!

  3. Hope says:

    I am making this now and it is not turning out. As soon as I put the cream into the caramel, the caramel hardened. I am trying to remelt it.

    • Michele says:

      So sorry this isn’t working for you Hope – caramel can be really tricky, and if the cream is too cold it will cause the caramel to harden. It needs to either be added very slowly so it doesn’t harden, or it needs to be at least at room temperature, and I’ve just updated the recipe to note that.

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