Designing Domesticity: Caramel Brittle Ice Cream

Did you know that Sunday, July 21st was National Ice Cream Day? No, you didn't? Did you miss it? Well, fear not because all of July is considered National Ice Cream Month. In honor of this most momentous occasion, we made homemade ice cream.

Actually, I received an ice cream maker from my SIL (Thanks, Linda!) for my birthday and we've been making it almost weekly since we arrived here in Charlotte.

Strawberry and Peach were among our first flavors, but we decided to really step out of the box for the big holiday!

Salted Caramel on the menu.

Here's the part where I would usually include a recipe or a link to a recipe that worked and we loved, but not this time. This time we threw caution to the wind, mashed two recipes together, created a huge mess, nearly broke the ice cream maker, thought we had a big ol' flop on our hands, but ended up with something so beyond sinful just typing this is making my mouth water.

(you can only imagine the restraint it took to snap these photos...)

I followed a standard recipe for Simple Vanilla Ice Cream, as follows:

1 c whole milk

3/4 c granulated sugar

pinch of salt

2 c heavy cream

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Combine milk, sugar and salt in a blender and blitz until sugar is dissolved (remember, we're in a temporary kitchen with no frills other than the ones we brought - like the ice cream maker and our blender. You could certainly use an electric mixer for this step). Stir in heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, make your caramel. (I read this tutorial and found it very helpful.) Cover a heavy bottomed frying pan with about 1/2 inch of sugar, place over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until sugar starts to liquify. Slowly drag sugar to center of pan until it is completely liquified. Cook until a nice auburn color, remove from heat. Quickly add 1 TBS good quality salt, such as Maldon sea salt and 1/2 stick butter to create a salty-sauce. Allow to cool to room temperature. Your caramel sauce may harden, but should not go to a brittle-like consistency.

3. Remove ice cream mixture from refrigerator after designated 1-2 hours. Turn on your ice cream maker, pour mixture into freezer bowl and let mix until thickened about 15 minutes.

4. Once the ice cream has reached your desired consistency, pour in your caramel. This is when we thought we broke the machine - the caramel instantly becomes one large frozen mass! Our solution: pour the mixture into a bowl, reach in and break your caramel into pieces (yes, it's super messy, but worth it. Trust me!). Pour the mixture back into the machine and mix until a soft serve consistency is achieved, about 15- 20 minutes.