The Best Salted Caramel Ice Cream

I can safely say that this is the BEST salted caramel ice cream recipe that I have came across...

Before this, I have tried many caramel ice cream recipes before. Some contains all egg yolks. Some contains butter or condensed milk but nothing is good enough for our fussy taste until I found this Epicurious recipe!

Although there is this one and only caramel ice cream in our ice cream hall of glory, this recipe can be used to make two different kinds of ice cream!!!

When I followed the recipe exactly to the tee and cooked the mixture after adding the eggs, the custard mixture become very thick and creamy. Sounds yummy, isn't it? Strangely, I feel that the cooked eggs and its thickened texture has sort of masked the caramel taste eventually... Please don't get me wrong here! We really love this thick caramel ice cream but my intuition tells me that I should try making this ice cream according to the Ben and Jerry's way by not cooking the mixture after adding the eggs. And guess what? I'm totally right!!!

This is the best salted caramel ice cream that I have made.

You don't need a candy thermometer to do this...
The sugar itself with NO water will melt evenly to reach a rich dark luscious colour.

This requires some patience and time to cook and stir until the caramel dissolves.

At this point of time, you can either:
1) Add heated milk and cream into the eggs. Cook the custard until it coats the back of the spoon. Then combine all the ingredients or
2) add the remaining ingredients and don't cook the mixture.

To minimise the risk of food contamination due to the use of raw eggs, I have used shelf stable Farm Pride powdered whole eggs which have been pasteurised before use. 

The finial touch and the must have... The salt and vanilla.

The cooked ice cream mixture - It is slightly darker in colour, thicker and "flaky".

This is the uncooked egg version of the caramel ice cream.
Although it looks lighter in its colour and also a little more icy during the churning of the ice cream...

... it is perfectly smooth and more robust in its flavour!

You have to believe me that this recipe is really good.

It is so good that we are always craving for this ice cream!

Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from Epicurious

Makes about 1 quart or 1L

200g (1 cup) caster sugar plus 50g (1/4 cup) if you prefer the ice cream to sweeter but we didn't use the extra 1/4 cup of sugar
2 1/4 cup heavy cream, divided into 1 1/4 cup and 1 cup
3 large eggs*
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
* Use 4 1/2 tbsp whole egg powder plus 100ml (6 2/3 tbsp) water if you are not cooking the custard.After enjoying the extremely smooth and velvety texture of Ben's ice cream, I would strongly recommend the addition of eggs (preferably the powdered ones) in this recipe as the presence of the eggs can really make a huge difference.

Heat 1 cup sugar in a dry 10-inch (25 cm) heavy skillet or pot over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly. When it starts to melt, stir occasionally and allow it to melt and cook evenly to form a deep dark amber colour.

Add 1 1/4 cups cream. Be careful that the mixture will spatter. Cook and stir the mixture until the caramel has completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

*If you are like me, prefer not to cook the custard and do what I did with the Ben and Jerry's way, you can combine the rest of the ingredients into the cooled (room temperature) caramel mixture. Pour mixture through a sieve into a large bowl or container and chill mixture in the fridge until it is cold enough to churn in an ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream into an airtight container and store it in freezer for at least 5-6 hrs to firm up the texture before serve. Otherwise, please proceed to the next step.Meanwhile, bring milk, the remaining cream and 1/4 cup sugar (optional) just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally.

Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then add half of hot milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon or check if the mixture is 170°F using an instant-read thermometer (do not boil the mixture).

Combine both custard and caramel mixture and stir in the salt and vanilla. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl or container. Chill mixture with occasional stirring until very cold, 3 to 6 hours. Freeze custard using an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer ice cream into an airtight container and store it in freezer to firm up the texture further.

Enjoy the treat
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