I love making ice cream. It’s so rewarding. Whenever I make ice cream I’m the most popular person in the house. Still, the ice cream never lasts more than a day. So it got me imagining a future where I would own an ice cream parlor. There would never be an ice cream shortage again. How cool would that be? Or maybe even an ice cream truck. I would drive around town delivering cold treats and smiles to every child. And think about how popular I would be with the parents once they found out that its homemade ice cream? I would make sure that no person would be left behind. Gluten-free? Sugar-free? Fat-free? No problem! I don’t know how realistic this dream is but I think you get the point that I think about ice cream way too much.

The above picture is of ice cream that blew my expectations of caramel ice cream out of the water. The ice cream was sweet and salty. The caramel was assertive and perfectly creamy. I decided to add the raspberries because I always enjoyed the combination of caramel and raspberry in candy. The raspberries ended up settling on the bottom but I wouldn’t call that a big problem.  The salted caramel still took the center stage flavor-wise.

Salted Caramel and Raspberry Ice Cream (adapted from David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream)

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk, divided

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 tbsp. salted butter

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

3/4 tsp. vanilla paste

6 oz. fresh raspberries

Directions:

Pour 1 cup of the milk into a medium metal bowl and place a mesh strainer on top of it. Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside. Place an even layer of the sugar in a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until the edges began to melt. Using a heatproof spatula, stir the melting sugar towards the center until most of it is melted. Continue to cook stirring infrequently until the mixture starts to smell like it is just about to burn. It should start smoking and have a deep amber color.

Take the caramel off the heat and add the butter and salt. When the butter has melted, slowly whisk in the heavy cream. At this point the caramel may harden so return it to the heat and continue to stir over low heat until the caramel has melted. Stir in 1 cup of the milk.

Pour some of the caramel into the egg yolks and whisk to warm the eggs. Pour the mixture into the caramel and stir constantly to thicken the custard. The custard is ready when it coats the back of your spoon.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the milk and add the vanilla paste. Set the custard over an ice bath to cool the custard down. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Stir in the fresh raspberries once the ice cream is done churning. Chill the ice cream until firm.