Craft # 5c: Salted Caramel Ice Cream

For Christmas I bought my mom, my aunt Colleen and Rich each a box of chocolate covered caramels topped with sea salt from Trader Joe's. They looked delicious! And while I didn't trust myself with a box, I knew I would still get to try a piece if I gave it to them. (Yeah... I had an alterior motive...)

So when I saw this ice cream recipe I knew my mom and aunt needed to have it for Mother's Day. Hence, Mother's Day ice cream #2.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream ‘caramel fleur de sel glace’
(Sources: David Lebovitz, Estarcion, EveningEdge, CD Kitchen)

Ingredients
1 c sugar (+1/2 c. sugar, if desired)
1 T butter
1 cups heavy cream [I used fat free half and half]
2 cups whole milk [I used skim milk]
5 egg yolks, whisked together minimally
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel -- plus more for serving
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spread the 1c sugar (plus additional ½c. if desired) in the saucepan in an even layer. Cook over moderate heat, until caramelized. When melted, add butter. When the caramel is to your color-liking, mix in salt and whisk in the heavy cream (stand back - it will spatter)! Reduce heat. {The caramel may harden and seize, but return it to the heat and continue to stir over low heat until any hard caramel is melted.} Stir in 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk.

Whisk the yolks in a small bowl and gradually pour some of the warm caramel mixture over the yolks, stirring constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook the custard using a heatproof utensil, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture thickens. If using an instant-read thermometer, it should read 160-170 F (71-77 C).

Pour the custard through the strainer, add the vanilla and stir frequently until the mixture is cooled down. {Taste the caramel custard - you don't want it to be at full salt yet.} Refrigerate at least 8 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Just before you turn the ice cream maker off, add in a generous pinch of big-grained sea salt. {I didn't do this... probably because I quit reading the directions. However I did add a pinch of big-grained sea salt to each scoop prior to serving}

I want to explain the soft-serve ice cream texture in this photo. This is what happens when you make 3 ice creams in the course of 48 hours. The frozen mixing bowl for the ice cream maker wasn't able fully re-freeze between batches and was less effective in the freezing process. It didn't help that I took the ice cream directly from the machine and brought it to my parent's house. It didn't have enough time to set and thus was very melty. Good thing that is my mom's favorite part. {I left the ice cream at my parent's house and they told me it did freeze up nicely overnight. However from what I understand this one disappeared quickly and didn't make it past that first night.}