Ice-Cream

No-Churn Caramel Ice-Cream

Gail

This no-churn caramel ice-cream starts with homemade caramel so the caramel flavor is intense. It’s always soft so there’s not need to soften it before serving.

This is a view from the top of two glass ice-cream bowls each filled with a single scoop of no churn caramel ice-cream. The deep golden brown icecram is slightly melted on the sides. One bowl is in the upper right coner of the photo and the other is in the lower left corner. There are two spoons sitting together in the lower right corner of the photo. The bowls of ice-cream and the spoons are sitting on a slate surface.

About 4 years ago I made the most amazing caramel ice-cream ever. Unfortunately, I lost the recipe so I’ve been trying to recreate it for the last couple of months. 

The recipe started with homemade caramel so the flavor is intense. The problem is how much milk and cream to add to the caramel to get that wonderful ice-cream.

This ice-cream recipe is attempt #2. The first attempt never fully froze. I think the sugar and fat content was too high so it was more of a syrup than ice-cream.

No-churn caramel ice-cream freezes to a soft-serve ice-cream.  The great news is that you don’t need a churn. You can just pour the mixture into a pan or tub and freeze it.

This is a side view of two sundae dishes filled with scoops of golden brown caramel ice-cream. In the lower right corner of the photo there are two spoons stacked together. The bowls are arranged with one about two thirds down from the top of the right and the other in the center of the photo on the left. The bowls and spoons are sitting on a black slate surface with a black background.

If you’ve never made caramel before, this might be a little intimidating but trust me, it’s not difficult.  Caramel is burnt sugar, butter and cream. Here are a few tips to make sure the caramel base comes out perfectly.

Start with a heavy stainless steel pan.  A heavy pan will help the heat distribute evenly so you cook the sugar evenly.  It also has a smooth surface so the sugar won’t recrystallize.  Lastly, you can clearly see what color the sugar is as it turns brown.

Add a liquid sugar to keep the sugar from recrystallizing. This recipe uses corn syrup. You can also use PURE maple syrup or glucose.

The key here is the sugars need to be free of contaminants. Brown sugar and honey have contaminants that cause re-crystallization.

This is a view from the top of a glass ice-cream bowl filled with a single scoop of no churn caramel ice-cream. The deep golden brown icecram is slightly melted on the sides. To the right of the bowl there is a blue-handled ice-cream scoop with a scoop of caramel ice-cream still in the bowl. The bowl of ice-cream and the ice-cream scoop are sitting on a slate surface.

Have all your ingredients ready BEFORE you start cooking the sugar and do not step away from the stove once you start. The sugar will go from white, to clear, to pale yellow, to light brown, to medium brown, to dark brown, to black.

You want to stop the process at the medium to dark brown state. The final color changes happen quickly because your pan retains heat and keeps cooking the sugar so it’s important to watch carefully once the sugar becomes pale yellow.

When you add the cold cream and butter, you stop the burning process. Because the sugar can get dark very quickly, having the ingredients ready means you control the exact color of your caramel. I let my sugar get one shade darker than I want the ice-cream to be before adding the cream and butter.

Yield: 1 quart

No-Churn Caramel Ice-Cream

This is a view from the top of a glass ice-cream bowl filled with a single scoop of no churn caramel ice-cream. The deep golden brown icecram is slightly melted on the sides. To the right of the bowl there is a blue-handled ice-cream scoop with a scoop of caramel ice-cream still in the bowl. The bowl of ice-cream and the ice-cream scoop are sitting on a slate surface.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 12 hours
Total Time 12 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups white sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • ¼ cup corn syrup
  • 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 ½ cups whole milk

Instructions

  1. Put sugar, water and corn syrup in a 3 quart saucepan. Heat over medium high heat and do not stir until the mixture boils.
  2. When the mixture boils, watch it carefully to see when the color starts changing. The sugar will become clear, then turn pale yellow, then pale brown, medium brown and dark brown. You can use a long handled spoon or spatula to gently stir the sugar. Be careful not to splash it onto the sides of the pan.
  3. When the sugar is medium - dark brown. take the pan off the heat and add the cream and butter all at once. This will create a lot of steam so pour the cream and butter from a height above the pan and stir with a long handled spoon or spatula. You can also wear oven mits to protect your hands.
  4. Grdually add the milk. Stir until all the caramelized sugar is dissolved in the mixture. Sometimes some of the sugar will harden when you add the milk. If this happens, you can gently reheat the mixture to help the sugar dissolve.
  5. Stir in the salt. Pour into a loaf pan or ice-cream tub. Cover and refrigerate until cool. Give the mixture another stir before freezing.
  6. Freeze over night. Enjoy.

Notes

I put the butter in the measuring cup with the cream to make it easy to add both at once to the hot sugar.

© Gail Dickinson
Cuisine: American / Category: Ice-Cream

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