Butterscotch Ice Cream

Happy Father's Day to everyone! It feels great to be back blogging after a some break. Thank you and a big hug to everyone who checked on me during my absence. Even though I made this really delicious butterscotch ice cream from smittenkitchen a couple of days ago, I have been in two minds about whether to post it here. Photographing ice cream is more difficult than I thought it would be. I put the ice cream outside to defrost and when I came back, the ice cream looked like soup. I hope you can look beyond that, because the butterscotch/caramel flavour is simply out of this world. This ice cream is very rich in flavour. If you love butterscotch/caramel, you've got to try this recipe.

Since this recipe doesn't contain milk, you can make this ice cream without an ice cream maker also. Because when you put the mixture in the freezer to set (instead of an ice cream maker), the water in the milk has a tendency to turn into ice. As a result ice creams that contain milk appear more icy and frosty (like that of a granita or sorbet), instead of being smooth, luscious and creamy.
 

The recipe yields about 4 cups (1 quart) of butterscotch ice cream.
Ingredients:
75 g unsalted butter
1 cup (ca 180 g) dark brown sugar
2 cups fresh whipping cream
1 1/2 cups half and half cream (light cream)
6 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract or 2 tsp vanillin sugar
1/4 tsp fleur de sel (or sea salt)

Method:
Melt the butter at below medium heat in a pan. Once the butter has melted, add the brown sugar and the salt. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture appears bubbly. Add 1/2 cup of the whipping cream and whisk until smooth. Remove the butterscotch from the heat.

Bring the remaining whipping cream and the half and half cream to a boil while constantly stirring (if you don't stir the cream while bringing it to a boil, it will get burnt at the bottom). Put the cream on a simmer (but try to whisk every once in a while to prevent it from getting burnt at the bottom). Now carefully separate the egg yolks and place them in a bowl and whisk until perfectly smooth. Drizzle about 1/2 cup of the warm cream, little by little, into the egg yolk mixture while constantly whisking. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the cream while whisking. Add the vanilla extract or sugar. Stir constantly over below medium heat, until the cream has slightly thickened. Remove the cream from the heat.

Pour the cream mixture over a fine strainer into a large bowl (big enough to accommodate 4 cups of liquid). Stir in the butterscotch mixture you had prepared earlier. The mixture will still be pretty warm, so allow it to cool down before freezing (and stir occasionally). Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and prepare the ice cream according to manufacturer's instructions. If you don't have an ice-cream maker, you can pour the mixture into an airtight container and place it in the deep freezer to set (for 6-8 hours). Store the ice cream in an airtight container in the deep freezer for upto 1 week. Serve it with sprinkles, sauce or candy of your choice or just the way it is!