Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

This week's pick for the Tuesday's with Dorie crowd is Burnt Sugar Ice Cream. I made two of Dorie's ice creams for my birthday last August and they were scrumptious. I was excited about trying this caramel-y ice cream.


As with most caramel recipes, you start with sugar and a little bit of water, cooking it until the sugar dissolves and then cooking it some more until the caramel begins to turn color. And then continuing to cook until it changes from light amber to dark amber. I've only burned caramel once, but that experience spooked me and I was a bit cautious in making this ice cream.

Dorie warns that the caramel will seize up when the milk and cream are added. And it did! But I just kept stirring and it smoothed out nicely. In a separate bowl, you whisk some egg yolks, then pour the hot creamy mixture into the yolks, then pour everything back into the pot to cook some more. Mine thickened just a bit but was at the correct temperature (175) so I took it off the stove, added the vanilla, and put it into the refrigerator to chill.

A couple of hours later I poured it into the ice cream maker and started the churning process. By the time the ice had melted in the ice cream maker, I figured out that the ice cream was not thickening up as expected. I put it into the freezer and hoped for the best. Two hours later, we were eating delicious, just right ice cream.

I do think that I could have cooked the caramel a bit longer and I also think I could have cooked the whole mixture a bit longer. Nevertheless, it was not a hardship to eat this delicious ice cream,