My salted caramel ice cream
Goat cheese is delicious with figs and I had just made some Fig & Hazelnut Financiers. When I accidentally bought a honey-sweetened goat cheese a Vanilla Cheese Ice Cream was the perfect use.
The salted caramel is so simple, when cream was left in the container, and all the tools out and ready to make ice cream, it was easy to make it, too.
Let’s make salted caramel ice cream: caramelize sugar with a little water, add cream, egg yolks and let thicken, add salt and a dash of liqueur (to prevent hard freezing) then pour it into an empty Talenti Ice Cream container and freeze.
These two, one-cup-of-cream ice creams each make enough for four servings. Quick to make, if you don’t count freezing time. The hardest part feels like the waiting for them to soften before serving. After removing from the freezer, I wait a good 10 minutes, looking at their creamy beauty through my clear jars.
Recipe for Salted Caramel Ice Cream:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon salt (Irish sea salt used)
- 1 tablespoon sherry
Melt the sugar with about 2 tablespoons of water, and cook over medium low heat until it bubbles and smells like caramel. You can under or over cook it, but trust yourself. When it smells right remove from heat. Measure out 1 cup of heavy cream, add it to the caramel and return to slightly lower heat (4 o’clock). Gradually stir the caramel into the warming cream until it is all incorporated. Magically it will do this but a few bits may stick to the sides. Nudge them with the whisk. You don’t want to waste them by leaving them in the pan, but a not quite melted bit of caramel will not be bad in the finished ice cream.
Add a small amount of the tan milk sauce to the slightly beaten egg yolks to temper them, mix. Then add all yolk mixture to the pan and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add salt and sherry, and remove pan from heat and set in a bowl of ice to cool. Stir while chilling. When no longer warm pour into ice cream saving container and put into the freezer.
Vanilla Honey Goat Cheese Ice Cream (for Fig Financiers)
Recipe (a large serving for 2 people, or accompaniment for 4 :
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 T Vermont Creamery Honey Goat Cheese
- 1 tablespoon Chareau Liqueur
Measure 1 cup of heavy cream. Let a vanilla bean soak in it while you gather the tools and other ingredients. Melt sugar in the cream with bean at a very low heat (3 o’clock). When warm and smelling like vanilla, add a small amount to the slightly beaten egg yolks to temper them, mix. Then pour all the yolk mixture into the cream in the saucepan and continue to cook at a slightly higher flame (4 o’clock), stirring occasionally until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add salt, alcohol and incorporate, then remove pan from heat to a bowl of ice. Remove the vanilla bean, dry it and add to a sugar bowl. Add crumbled goat cheese and stir to melt and incorporate while chilling. When no longer warm pour into ice cream saving container (we use a cleaned Talente jar with straight sides and a screw-on lid). Freeze for at least four hours. Check after half hour and give the cream a little swirl, if possible.