This homemade caramel ice cream is a caramel paradise! In one spoonful, you get caramel sauce, a bite of a chocolate-covered caramel cup and an intense caramel ice cream. If you’re into caramel, but like reallyyyyy into caramel, this homemade caramel ice cream is perfect for you!
The caramelized sugar in the ice cream lowers its freezing point, meaning your ice cream will be extra creamy and almost scoopable right out of the freezer.
Plan ahead
→ How to make homemade caramel ice cream? This caramel ice cream is made out of 3 caramel elements: a caramel sauce, chocolate-covered caramel cups and caramel ice cream. You’ll need to make caramel twice:
- once for the caramel sauce that will be drizzled on the ice cream and that will be used to fill the chocolate cups
- and once to make the ice cream custard
You can make it easier on yourself by using shop-bought caramel sauce and candies. Then the only thing left for you to do will be the caramel ice cream custard.
I know there are a lot of instructions and steps but this homemade caramel ice cream is well worth the extra effort. Plan ahead because the caramel sauce needs to cool down before being added to the cups (otherwise the chocolate would melt instantly). The caramel cups also need time to set in the fridge before being added to the ice cream. That’s why I like to prepare all the different elements the night before and in the morning I only have to churn the ice cream (and freeze it).
Don’t be put off by the recipe’s length. There aren’t necessarily a lot of steps, however, caramel can be tricky so I wrote the recipe in detail to guide you as best I could. One spoonful of this homemade caramel ice cream will be enough to win you over.
Dry method
I’m a dry caramel type of baker all the way! I ruined so many batches of caramel before I decided never to add water along with the sugar ever again. Everyone says making ‘wet’ caramel is easier but for me, it was more like a failure after failure. Making a ‘dry’ caramel is foolproof if;
- you’re using the right kind of pan. Heavy-based preferably and avoid non-stick pans. Don’t worry if you don’t notice anything at first. It takes a while for heavy-based pans to warm up but they conduct heat very well.
- you’re patient. Keep the heat low, it’s better for the sugar to melt very slowly. This way, you’ll be more in control and aware of the different melting stages. Caramel can burn pretty quickly so always keep an eye on it! The times I wrote are merely indications, every caramel is different, every stove is different and every pan conducts heat in a different way.
B&J’s copycat
I didn’t come up with the idea for this caramel lovers’ ice cream. This homemade caramel ice cream recipe is 100% inspired by Ben&Jerry’s triple caramel chunk ice cream. When it comes to shop-bought ice cream, B&J’s triple caramel chunk is my favorite by far and it has been for a decade. I remember buying it with my friends and thinking 5€ was so much money. Especially for ice cream that would be eaten in 10 min but we never had any regrets. It was always the crowning glory of our Friday night dinners (Who doesn’t have casual dinner parties in high school?).
Anyway, I always loved it but then I moved to France and a couple of months later it disappeared from the stores. It became impossible to get your hands on some triple caramel chunk except for some weird reasons if you ordered a Domino’s pizza. I was not about to, so for 7 years I didn’t have my favorite caramel ice cream (what a tragedy) until this month! It’s back in all the supermarkets. I don’t understand what happened but I’m thanking all the ice cream gods out there.
Caramely goodness
Tasting it again after so many years brought back so many memories and I still absolutely love it. However, since I couldn’t have any for so long I decided to come up with a copycat in case it disappears again from French supermarkets. It’s not an exact copycat because after having finished a longed-for pot of B&J’s I realized there are a couple of things I would have changed. The B&J’s version is maybe a bit too sweet overall for my grownup taste buds, the caramel flavor of the ice cream itself isn’t very strong and there are never enough caramel cups!
So in my homemade caramel ice cream, which is nothing but indulgent, I cranked the caramel flavor up 50%, it’s not overbearing but you’ll definitely need to be into caramel to enjoy this ice cream. After all, there is caramel in the ice cream, in the sauce and in the cups, so what could you expect? I wait for my caramel to have a deep copper color before adding the rest of the ingredients, so it’s not overly sweet. You can also add salt for a more refined ice cream flavor. There are also way more caramel cups and caramel sauce in my homemade caramel ice cream. We are not cutting back!
Homemade caramel ice cream
- Prep Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 750ml 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Freezing
- Cuisine: American
Description
This homemade caramel ice cream is for true caramel lovers! In one spoonful, you get an intense caramel ice cream, caramel sauce and a bite of a chocolate-covered caramel cup. It’s super creamy and well worth the effort!
Ingredients
For the homemade caramel sauce:
- 150g caster sugar (¾ cup)
- 30g butter (2 tbsp), cubed and at room temperature
- 80g heavy cream (⅓ cup), at room temperature
- ¾ tsp salt (optional: if you like salted caramel)
For the caramel cups:
- 110g baking chocolate (4 oz)
For the homemade caramel ice cream:
- 100g caster sugar (½ cup)
- 325g whole milk (1 ⅓ cup)
- 325g heavy cream (1 ⅓ cup)
- ½ tsp fine sea salt (optional: if you like salted caramel)
- 6 egg yolks
Instructions
For the homemade caramel sauce:
- Melt the sugar. Put the sugar in a large heavy-bottomed pan (preferably a steel pan) and shake the pan to level the sugar. Set the pan over low heat and cook without stirring until most of the sugar has melted, about 35 min. Lower the heat and softly drag any leftover patches of dry sugar into the hot caramel with a wooden spoon. After 10 min the caramel should have a dark amber color and be completely smooth.
- Make the caramel. Add the butter, heavy cream and salt. Be careful as it might vigorously bubble up. Let the caramel simmer for 5 to 10 min, stirring often to make sure everything is well combined and melted. Pour the caramel into a heat-proof bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature, about 1h.
For the caramel cups:
- Melt the chocolate. Roughly chop the chocolate. Fill a saucepan with 5cm (2 in) of water and place over low heat. Place the chopped chocolate into a smaller saucepan. Place this pan on top of the first pan (its bottom shouldn’t touch the water). Melt the chocolate, stirring with a spatula from time to time. Take the pan off the heat as soon as the chocolate is smooth and has completely melted.
- Make the chocolate cups. Lightly grease a candy mold or silicone ice cube tray with vegetable oil. Using a paintbrush, brush the indentations of the mold with melted chocolate, all the way to the top. It’s okay if there are some empty spots, this is just the 1st layer. Then place your mold in the freezer for 10 min to harden the chocolate layer. Repeat the process to brush a 2nd layer of melted chocolate, then place the mold in the freezer for another 10 min.
- Fill the cups with caramel. Spoon 1 tsp of homemade caramel sauce into the indentations, until about ¾ full. Don’t overfill the caramel cups because you still need to apply one more chocolate layer.
- Seal up the caramel. Lastly, paint melted chocolate all over the tops of the caramel cups and place the mold in the fridge overnight.
For the homemade caramel ice cream:
- Melt the sugar. Put the sugar in a large heavy-bottomed pan (preferably a steel pan) and shake the pan to level the sugar. Set the pan over low heat and cook without stirring until most of the sugar has melted, about 35 min. Lower the heat and softly drag any leftover patches of dry sugar into the hot caramel with a wooden spoon. After 5 to 10 min, the caramel should have a dark amber color and be completely smooth.
- Make the caramel mixture. In the meantime, pour the milk and cream into a medium heavy-based saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to just below a boil, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Carefully add the hot liquid to the caramel. Be careful as it might vigorously bubble up. Let the mixture simmer for 5 to 10 min, stirring often to make sure everything is well combined and melted. Then take the pan off the heat.
- Make the ice cream custard. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks for 2 min, until they lighten. Slowly pour the caramel mixture into the mixing bowl while whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir constantly with the whisk, scraping the bottom of the pan as you stir. If it’s too hot, the custard will curdle.
- Cook the custard. Cook and stir until the custard’s temperature reaches 80°C (176°F), about 8 to 10 minutes. The custard should coat the back of a spoon but it shouldn’t be as thick as pastry cream or curd. Pour the custard through a mesh strainer into a large clean bowl and whisk until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the custard and let stand until it reaches room temperature.
- Churn the ice cream. Chill the custard thoroughly in the fridge overnight. Whisk the chilled custard until smooth and scrape it into your ice cream maker. Churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. In the meantime, take the homemade caramel sauce out of the fridge to bring it to room temperature. Delicately pop out the caramel cups. Fill a pastry bag with the caramel sauce and snip off the tip.
- Layer the churned ice cream, caramel cups and caramel sauce. Scrape one-third of the ice cream in a 1-liter container with a tight-fitting lid and spread it evenly. Sprinkle ⅓ of the caramel cups over the ice cream and generously drizzle the caramel sauce over the top. Repeat the layers until you run out of ice cream.
- Freeze. Cover the container with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the homemade caramel ice cream. Close the lid and freeze for at least 5 hours or overnight.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 big scoops
- Calories: 906
Keywords: caramel desserts, summer recipes
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