Chocolate-Caramel Ice Cream

I cleaned out my larder a couple of weeks ago and found a jar of Waitrose ‘Seriously Buttery Caramel Dipping Sauce‘ hidden in the darkness. I had completely forgotten it was there, but as it was getting close to its ‘best before’ date, I needed to find something to do with it. I did consider grabbing a spoon from the drawer and unashamedly devouring the lot neat, spoon by spoon, but I figured that was not only selfish, but may just make me feel a little unwell.

My daughter has for ages, been asking for caramel ice cream and I have been hankering to make a new batch of chocolate, so I decided to combine the two required ingredients to make chocolate-caramel ice cream. Good move on both counts!

I have not actually eaten the Waitrose caramel sauce before, but now I have tasted it, I can confirm that it is what it says on the jar…….. ‘seriously buttery’ and superbly rich and caramelly. It is not too thick, so is perfect for stirring into ice cream and stays soft and gooey even when frozen. It is probably one of the nicest shop-bought caramels I have had!

The chocolate base to this ice cream is a creamy, eggless batter made with plenty of dark chocolate to give it a rich chocolately (not cocoaey) flavour. The resulting ice cream is lushiously smooth, a little bit sticky and incredibly decadent. Simple to make, easy to scoop, delicious to eat………. don’t expect it to last too long………… it is very moreish.

I am not particularly happy with the photos. They really don’t do it justice, but unfortunately things have been such a rush lately and they are as they are! Never mind……….. take it from me, this ice cream is FAB!

Chocolate-Caramel Ice Cream (makes approx. 700 ml)

Ingredients

100g plain chocolate (70%)
300 ml double cream
70g liquid glucose
35g icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
120 ml whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250 ml caramel sauce

Method

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt, stirring in a glass bowl placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water), or use a microwave on medium setting at 30 second bursts, stirring well between each.




2. Put the cream, glucose, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a large saucepan and whisk to combine thoroughly.




3. Heat the mixture on a medium heat, stirring frequently, until it comes to the boil and starts to froth up.




4. Remove from the heat and add the melted chocolate. Whisk to fully combine.




5. Add the milk and vanilla extract and whisk very thoroughly until the mixture is smooth and even.




6. Allow the mixture to cool as quickly as possible and then place in the fridge until completely chilled.




7. Once chilled, churn into ice cream using an ice cream maker as per manufacturer’s instructions.




8. Before turning the ice cream into a container (and whilst it is still soft), remove the paddle from the ice cream maker and add the caramel to the mix. Fold in very gently so that the caramel is evenly distributed but you still have some visible swirls.




9. Spoon into an air-tight storage container and place in the freezer to harden fully.

(If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place the mixture at stage 7 into a shallow container and freeze until mushy. Then turn into a chilled bowl and beat until the ice crystals are broken down. Return to the freezer and freeze again until mushy. Repeat the whisking and freeze a final time, remembering to fold in your caramel whilst the ice cream is still soft enough to do so)

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