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Once upon a time I made an ice cream that I couldn’t even let freeze before I dove into it. It was so good that I stood over the ice cream maker with a long spoon, scraping it along the sides of the spinning contraption so that I could shovel the little bits of ice cream that were just starting to freeze into my overeager, shockingly impatient face.
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That ice cream was this:
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HOMEMADE SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM
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If not yours, it’s at least the stuff my dreams are made of. This, and maybe an uninterrupted hour of reading time.
I know that the popularity of salted caramel seems to come and go. But it’s an every day and all time favorite of mine. And it makes one fantastic ice cream. I literally could not keep my hands of of this stuff. Every time I’d walk by the freezer I’d find myself sticking a spoon in the container of ice cream that was still trying to freeze. I will have it noted, however, that I DID share this with my husband. Not because I wanted to be nice or dispell his seemingly rock solid confirmation of my unwillingness to share desserts, but because he needed to understand just how good this stuff was.
And boy, did he understand. It became a battle of who could eat the most the fastest to get to the remaining serving left in the freezer.
I won. It’s important to do what it takes when the situation really matters, folks.
~KITCHEN HACK OF THE DAY~
Turn making homemade caramel into an easy task by cooking it in a frying pan. Make sure the sides of the pan are about an inch high. Cooking the caramel in a shallow pan will make the sugar cook faster as more of it will be touching the pan. Don’t forget to keep a little bowl of water next to it so that you can dip a pastry brush into it and wash down the sides of the pan as the sugar cooks. You don’t need to do this for the entire duration of the cooking, just the first minute or so while the sugar dissolves. This washes any sugar crystals down that may form on the sides. Sugar crystals = crystallized caramel.
Also, when you mix cream into the caramel to make a sauce, make sure that the cream is boiling hot. The mixture will bubble up something fierce, so make sure your hands are protected by oven mits. The hot cream will blend into the caramel easily, resulting in a smooth sauce that you don’t have to stir to death to combine. Never pour cold cream in! It will cause your caramel to harden right then and there with no hope of mixing in without heating up all over again.
- 1½ C. Sugar
- ½ C. Water
- 1 C. Heavy cream, hot
- 2 T. Butter
- Kosher Salt, to taste
- 1¾ C. Heavy Cream, chilled
- 1½ C. Whole Milk
- ½ T. Vanilla
- Place the sugar and water in a sauce pan, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
- Heat on high and bring to a boil.
- Using a basting brush dipped in water, brush the sides of the pan down to dissolve any sugar crystals that form.
- Continue cooking until the sugar starts to turn a deep amber. As soon as it reaches this point, immediately remove it from the heat or it will burn.
- Wearing oven mits on your hands,slowly pour the hot heavy cream into the caramel and whisk it in. The mixture will bubble severely, but will calm down as you keep mixing. Add the butter to the mixture and mix in until is is melted and fully incorporated.
- Add kosher salt to the caramel, little by little, tasting, until desired saltiness is achieved.
- Pour half of the caramel into an air tight container and set out at room temperature to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining half of the caramel, chilled cream, milk, and vanilla.
- Refrigerate until cold.
- Stir together well after chilling and freeze it in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions.
- When the ice cream is fully frozen, pour the room temperature caramel in to the ice cream and let it swirl through the mixture.
- Scoop into a container and freeze until firm.
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gah! pass me a spoon and the ice cream bowl! this looks delicious
And thank you so much for the caramel tips. I’ve burnt my fair share of pans of sugar while trying to make caramel, so I’m going to try your advice.
Thanks Holly! And you are welcome! Caramel can be such a tricky pain =)
I’m with Holly, pass me a spoon so I can dig in! This ice cream wouldn’t last a day in my house
Haha, Thanks Heather! It didn’t last here either =)
This is definitely the stuff my dreams are made of too. And I definitely wouldn’t share this. Yum!
Thanks Sarah! Yay for no sharing!!!
Nothing beats salted caramel anything, and this ice cream sounds incredible!!
I SO agree, Matt! Thank You!
This looks divine! Salted caramel is one of my all-time favs when it comes to ice cream flavors. GORGEOUS photography as well!
Thank you so much, Christine!! I appreciate the compliment! Salted caramel does make the best ice cream =)
This ice cream has my name alll over it. I love anything salted caramel so this is just a winner!
Thanks Rochelle! I agree, anything salted caramel has to be good, right?
Babe, thanks for having the right motives and everything for wanting to share “YOUR” AMAZING ice cream with me. =) It was insanely delicious….please make again!
Your welcome, Love. But I’m not sure I’ll share next time. I may just make it while your at work, eat it all, and you’ll never know any of it happened. Just kidding. I’ll share.
Wow, this looks super delish! Love salted caramel, so I definitely would love to try this ice cream recipe out!
Thank you Jessica! I hope you get to make it sometime, It really is some of the best ice cream I’ve had!
this looks so creamy and divine!
Thank you Dina!!
This looks freaking amazing Kayley. I’m so glad I’m not the only person who stands over my creations and eats them with a spoon without even sitting down.
I made the batter for this today and the caramel was so good! One question – the caramel hardened when I added the chilled cream and milk to it. Is that OK? Will it still turn out when I churn it tomorrow? Thanks.
Hi Irene! Glad you liked the caramel! I think it will be alright when you churn it…I’ll look into changing the directions so that more cream is added hot so that it doesn’t harden when the cold is added. Thank you for your feedback! =)
This ice cream could be my next best friend!! 😉 I wish I could reach through my screen and eat that entire bowl! Pinned!
Haha, it does make a fantastic friend! Thanks Jocelyn!
I made this ice cream today- hello delicious!! It was creamy, sweet, salty, and a great texture! Super easy and pretty fast to make. It turned out like the pictures 🙂 This is also the best caramel sauce I have ever had and very easy to put together. My husband went crazy for this ice cream and was actually dancing in the kitchen (shh don’t tell). Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I will definitely be making this one again…and again…and again!
I’m so glad you guys liked it Megan! Thank you for letting me know, it just makes my day to hear that others like my recipes as much as I do…this one is my favorite ice cream! =)
This recipe is amazing. Currently have the ice cream churning, but have been tasting it along the way and I want to eat before it’s done! Perfectly written instructions and helpful tips. Will come back here for more recipes!
Thank you for your feedback, Sarah! I’m so glad you like it! I have the same problem every time I make this ice cream…..I’m always scraping the sides as it freezes and eating it 😉
have done the sugar in water bit twice and both times it has reduced and gone to a mush, what am I doing wrong here? I did 1.5 cups of granulated sugar and half a cup of water… Is that correct? Struggling here, can you help? Would love to make this correctly as sounds yummy. Have the cream ready as well. Thanks, Dawn.
Hi Dawn!
I’m sorry you’re having trouble with the caramel, it can be so tricky to get right! A few tips might be to make sure the sugar is fully dissolved before it starts boiling. Also, running a wet basting brush down the sides to dissolve any sugar crystals stuck to the sides can help, or even cooking the sugar for the first few minutes with a lid over the top to cause the steam to wash down any unwanted crystals from the sides. If there are any sugar crystals that don’t get dissolved, it will cause the caramel to crystalize.
So happy to find this recipe! can’t wait to try!
But I have a question, the half caramel shouldn’t be mixed together with the rest of the ingredient until step 10?
Never mind my last question, just succeeded today, this is such an amazing recipe!
Thanks Michelle! Glad you like it!
I was wondering this same question. Thanks!
So, there are no eggs in this? Every homemade ice cream I have ever made has an egg-based custard so I’m just a little nervous about it staying rich and creamy.
Nope. No eggs! But trust me, if is every bit as rich and creamy as a custard based ice cream =)
I loved this Icecream. I was rich smooth and creamy. I also was very happy that the recipe didn’t have any eggs. This has become a family hit.
Thank you Marquetta! I’m so glad you liked it!
Just wondering does that letter T stand for tablespoon? Omso I’m assuming 2 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla?
Oh one more thing- should the butter be unsalted? Thank you do much! Can’t wait to try this out!
You are right, T stands for tablespoon. I always just use salted butter and it comes out great 🙂
I was fretting so much over the caramel, it didn’t look right, didn’t smell right!!! Tried to use a candy thermometer and failed. Followed the directions verbatim and just knew I somehow I over or undercooked it or something. Poured the hot cream in and oh lord does it smell burned, now it REALLY doesn’t look right! Knowing that I had just messed up my very first attempt at this caramel sauce, I reached for a teaspoon and coated the back of it with the brown liquid. Blew on it a few times for good measure and tasted. Blissful sweet heaven!!!! Did that just come off my stove?! Added the salt and couldn’t believe it could taste better, but it did! The rest was cake and the base is chilling. I cannot WAIT to freeze!!! It wont last a day I am certain!
Made ice cream using your recipe for my husband’s birthday. We are both in awe of how wonderful it tastes and your easy to follow instructions were so appreciated! I scored major wife points, thanks to you! From both of us, we say thank you!
So glad you liked it! It’s one of my favorites =)
OMG I need this NOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
What kind of sugar does the caramel icream use
regular white sugar =)
I haven’t got an icecream maker, will it still work if I just freeze it
You could look up “no-churn” ice cream methods and try to apply this recipe to that method 🙂
How much kosher salt do you start with and then adjust to taste?