Recipe: Caramel Brickle Ice Cream

It’s that time of year again.. ICE CREAM TIME!... and continuing my ice cream series from last year… I decided to start with Caramel Brickle Ice Cream.

First… I want to make a case for taking the plunge and buying an ice cream maker… I don’t care what you’ve been told… you cannot make a great ice cream without it. Ice cream makers are relatively inexpensive and truly “pay back” the cost of the machine pretty quickly.

Last week.. Warren and I wanted ice cream.. the hot, hot weather.. just made it a natural thing to want… so we stopped at our local grocery store… and picked up a container… it was a 1 ½ quart size… gallons are a dying breed… but then again you’d have to take out a second mortgage to pay for one… well maybe not that bad… BUT… the cost of ice cream has skyrocketed… our 1 ½ quart STORE BRAND ice cream was close to 6 bucks…. that’s insane! I can only imagine what it does to family food budgets this time of year.

So… we picked up Caramel Brickle Ice Cream… not only was it expensive… the brickle and caramel were scarce… I caught Warren mining for “hot spots” of brickle and caramel.. utterly ridiculous at those prices.

So this week I decided to pull out the ice cream maker and fire it up…. I made a batch about the same size for half the price. … with lots of brickle and caramel throughout.

TIPS

I was surprised at the price range of milk and heavy cream… the heavy cream at a regular grocery store was close to double what it was at Walmart. So if you’re doing this to save a few bucks on ice cream.. watch your prices… the best price for ingredients was at Walmart.

I did an introductory ice cream making post last year … Ice Cream Making Basics and Vanilla Ice Cream and Basic Ice Cream Making Instructions

The quantities for brickle and caramel worked well for me… you can use less or more depending on your tastes.

I used Hersheys Caramel Ice Cream Topping in a jar.. it’s thicker than the stuff you can squeeze out of a container.. and I highly recommend you use it.

I added a bit of caramel at the end while it was still churning.. it added caramel flavor to the ice cream.. which we really liked… but if you’re a purist and want vanilla ice cream with brickle and caramel… add some brickle during the last minute of churning and add the rest and the caramel as you put it into your container… swirl the caramel with a knife.

So… happy summer… and I hope you enjoy this!






Recipe: Caramel Brickle Ice Cream

All you need:

1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
¾ cup Heath Bits ‘O Brickle
½ jar (16 oz. size) Hersheys Caramel Ice Cream Topping

All you have to do:

In a mixing bowl, using the wire whisk attachment, beat at low speed the milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved… about 2 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

Flip the machine on and pour the ice cream batter through the opening at the top of the plastic lid.

Set a timer for 20 minutes.

When the timer goes off… add about ½ of the brickle and allow the machine to mix it in. The ice cream will expand… so work quickly … I also added a little caramel to it to get the caramel flavor throughout.

Let the machine churn until the ice cream has thickened… it may start to “grow” out of the bowl. Turn off the machine and start scooping spoonfuls into your container… after each large spoonful add brickle and stir.

Then add some caramel … drizzling it over the ice cream… using a knife swirl it around a little… continue until all of the ice cream is out of the freezer bowl.

NOTE: It will take between 25-30 minutes for the ice cream to thicken (this is using the Cuisinart ICE-20 model)… if you are using a different brand or model… check your instruction booklet to be sure the timing is the same.