I’m amazed at how simple it is to make salted caramel sauce. It cooks up in minutes and tastes just as good, (if not better!) than the fancy jar stuff. Then swirl some into home made ice cream and everything is right with the world. I made a couple things with it over the weekend and still have some to spare, so no doubt you will see more recipes including salted caramel sauce here. One thing I want to point out about making the sauce is when you get to the part where you remove it from the stove and add the cream, be careful to whisk in the cream slowly, mine bubbled up like a science experiment! I altered my basic vanilla ice cream recipe a little bit, I used just the egg yolks for a richer texture and reduced the sugar to half a cup. Oh, and as you can see I’m working on an electric stove these days in the new house, and it’s… torture. You simply cannot go from boil to simmer in an instant, I’m very much missing a gas stove, but until then I’m doing the best I can to not burn everything. I think electric stoves were designed for boiling water. They are very good at that.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
A pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup salted caramel sauce (recipe below)

In a saucepan, heat milk slowly over low heat. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, salt and sugar. Slowly add the hot milk to the mixture, continuing to whisk. Pour mixture back into saucepan and heat slowly until thickened, stirring constantly. Cool, then add cream and vanilla. Chill thoroughly, several hours or overnight, then freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. When you’re ice cream is ready add a layer to your freezer container, drizzle a spoonful of caramel over the ice cream, add another layer of ice cream and then sauce, repeat with remaining ice cream. Freeze until firm (or just dig right in!) Makes about 2 pints of ice cream.

Salted Caramel Sauce

(adapted from Cooking Channel)

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon gray sea salt, crushed or kosher salt

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, without stirring. Boil until the syrup is a deep amber color, about 5 to 6 minutes (mine started to brown around 7 minutes).

Remove the sugar from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream (slowly!) as the mixture will bubble. Stir in the unsalted butter, and salt. Transfer the caramel to a dish and cool. Store refrigerated in jar for up to 2 weeks.