Over the summer I got really into making ice cream, at one point we had over 40 pints in our freezer, it was a little out of control. Delicious, but out of control. I made a ton of different flavors like persevered lemon pink peppercorn, lavender London fog, and the boozy chocolate that you can find here in my recipes. One of the favorites though was, of course, salted caramel. I put a tiny bit of a twist on it by adding brown butter to the caramel sauce before blending it in with the milk and cream. It gives the caramel just a little bit of the toasty nutty flavor that browned butter has and makes it even more delicious. And what better to go with salted caramel ice cream than a chocolate brownie. These brownies are dense and very chocolatey with both semi sweet chocolate and cocoa powder in them. You can easily turn this into a sundae with your favorite chocolate sauce and some whipped cream on top.
Brown Butter Salted Caramel Ice Cream -
1 cup sugar
1T corn syrup
1/4 cup water
4 T unsalted butter - browned
2 cups heavy cream - divided
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1 cup whole milk
3 oz cream cheese - softened
Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Continue to cook until the butter starts to foam and the milk solids separate out and begin to fall to the bottom of the pan and brown. Once there are lots of golden brown bits at the bottom remove the pan from the heat. Pour the butter into a small bowl making sure to scrape all the browned bits from the bottom into the bowl as well. Refrigerate to cool.
Stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat, without stirring, until the water has evaporated and the sugar is an amber color. Turn off the heat, whisk in the cooled butter and then 1 cup of the heavy cream. The caramel may seize and clump up but don't worry, turn the heat back on low and continue to whisk until it is smooth and has no lumps. Whisk in the salt. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
In a blender combine the remaining 1 cup heavy cream, milk, cream cheese, and cooled caramel. Blend until smooth, refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Pour the ice cream base into the bowl of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturers instructions. Transfer to freezer containers and freeze until firm.
Classic Chocolate Brownies -
1.75 sticks unsalted butter
1.5 cups sugar
4 oz semi sweet chocolate - chopped
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder - I used Hershey's special dark
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven to 350. Add the butter to a medium sauce pan and melt over low heat. Stir in the semi sweet chocolate and the sugar, continue stirring until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool.
In a small bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
When the chocolate mixture has cooled down, whisk the eggs and vanilla, stirring quickly to combine so they eggs don't begin to cook from any residual heat. Add the dry ingredients, and stir until combined. Pour the batter into a 8x8 baking dish that has been buttered and lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out almost clean. Don't over bake! Let them cook slightly, then cut into squares and serve topped with a scoop of the brown butter salted caramel ice cream.
Comments