I’ve fallen in love with my ice cream maker. Our relationship started a year ago with two brief encounters (a short fling, if you will. One vanilla, the other blueberry) and I just wasn’t feeling it. It was a case of, “It’s not me. It’s you.” I take those words back. As with expensive jeans or a purse worth more than its contents – I need to amortize my purchases to ease the guilt. I had not yet amortized the cost of my ice cream maker to feel it was OK to leave it on a shelf forever.
I decided to reignite our passion with the ice cream flavour I desired most. Salted Caramel. Oh my. It was good. So good. After that, I went with a mouth-puckering lemon ice cream that reminded me of lemon meringue and now I can’t get enough.
Yes, you need an ice cream maker but they are quite reasonable. I have a $60 Cuisinart machine that works great. Also, don’t expect to make the ice cream and have it instantly ready to serve. After you cook the custardy part of the ice cream, you need to let it cool completely (an ice bath will save you a lot of time) and you need to freeze the ice cream so that it will harden. When it comes out of the machine it’s very soft.
Add the hot cream and milk to the eggs SLOWLY. I’m talking painfully slow. Otherwise you will end up with scrambled eggs. Whisk the entire time. POUR SLOWLY! (It’s worth saying twice.). Same with adding the cream to the caramel. Add it slowly so it doesn’t seize up.
If you’re new to the idea of salted caramel, you can stick to the ½ teaspoon of salt in the recipe. It’s a very mild flavour. If you know you like salted caramel, add an extra ¼ teaspoon. Experiment with salts and you’ll love it.
Do you have a favourite ice cream recipe? I’m still a newbie and looking for things to try.
Both recipes from www.epicurious.com
Make sure you freeze your ice cream bowl beforehand!
SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM
Makes about 1 quart
Keeps for up to 1 week
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt such as Maldon (add ¼ teaspoon for more of a salted flavour)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
DIRECTIONS:
Heat 1 cup sugar in a dry 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is dark amber.
Add 1 1/4 cups cream (mixture will spatter) and cook, stirring, until all of caramel has dissolved. Transfer to a bowl and stir in sea salt and vanilla. Cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, bring milk, remaining cup cream, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally.
Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then add half of hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in cooled caramel.
Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours. Freeze custard in ice cream maker (it will still be quite soft), then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.
LEMON ICE CREAM
Makes about 1 quart
Keeps for up to 1 week
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
DIRECTIONS:
Bring cream, milk, sugar, zest, and salt just to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally. Lightly beat yolks in a large bowl, then add hot sweetened cream in a slow stream, whisking. Pour custard into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until a candy or instant-read thermometer registers 170°F and custard coats back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl, then stir in juice. Cool custard, stirring occasionally, then chill until cold.
Freeze custard in ice-cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.
