Shulie Madnick (@FoodWanderings) and I were tweeting about salted caramel ice cream, and I promised to share with her my recipe for Johanna’s Chocolate Caramel Brûlée Crunch Ice Cream. I’ll share it with you too.

This is my best recipe invention yet. The combination of two separate recipes results in an icy-cold concoction that reminds me of a chocolate caramel-y crème brûlée, with no need for a blowtorch.

This salted caramel ice cream, adapted from Nicole Kaplan who was at NYC’s Eleven Madison Park, is wonderful on its own, but add in some homemade chocolate covered sponge toffee (or even store-bought Crunchie Bar, I’d assume) and it is the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted (to toot my own horn). The sponge toffee recipe is by Anita Chu.

The travel link – ice cream with sponge toffee in it is very popular in New Zealand, where it is called hokey-pokey. Yup, I ate it often when I was there, but have to say mine is better!

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup (if you must, you can substitute corn syrup)
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups milk (whatever you have on hand, usually skim or 1% for me)
4-6 egg yolks (depending on the richness you like … original recipe called for 10, and this was too eggy for me … I usually use about 4 yolks) (make a pavlova with the leftover whites)
1/2 tsp fleur de sel

Place 3/4 cup sugar and corn syrup in heavy bottomed saucepan. Do not stir. Cook over medium-high heat to a dark caramel, swirling as it begins to brown to distribute the sugar. Slowishly pour in the cream – it will bubble up so be careful. Slowly pour in the milk. The caramel will harden – don’t worry. Bring to a boil, then simmer and stir to dissolve the caramel. Set aside to cool somewhat.

In a large bowl, whisk the 1/2 cup sugar, yolks and salt. Whisk a little caramel mixture into the egg mixture to temper, then combine the two and stir. Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove any eggy bits.

Chill in your fridge (even the last 20 minutes in the freezer, but don’t let it freeze). Then freeze in your ice cream maker.  Once it is almost set, add in your chocolate covered sponge toffee bits (you want a mix of crumbs and chunks). Cover ice cream itself with plastic wrap, then put the dish cover on and store in the freezer.
Will start to deteriorate after a few days, so eat up!  If you’re serving with out the candy, sprinkle a little more fleur de sel on top when you serve.

Sponge Toffee 

1 cup sugar
3 tbsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup (if you must, you can substitute corn syrup)
3 tsp baking soda
8 oz dark chocolate (optional)

Prepare pan: a silpat is ideal, and I shape it into a cone in a bowl to get maximum thickness of the toffee.  A baking pan lined with foil and buttered will also work.  The toffee will lose air and flatten out as it cools.

Heat sugar and syrup in a large saucepan, without stirring, although you can swirl occasionally.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Continue cooking until the mixture reaches 285 F, hard crack stage.

Remove from heat and quickly and thoroughly stir in the baking soda, mixing well to aerate and to ensure it all dissolves.  The mixture will bubble up high, so be careful.

Pour on to prepared pan to cool thoroughly.  You can score it with a knife as it cools to make neater chunks if you like.

Once cooled, break/cut unto pieces and dip each into melted chocolate.

Does your sweet tooth want a little something more?  How about my post about eating 10 desserts in one night?  Click HERE.