- Prep Time:
15 mins - Cook Time:
25 mins - Total Time:
40 mins
This easy recipe for dulce de leche ice-cream needs only 4 ingredients – milk, cream, dulce de leche, and vanilla.
Why does photographing ice-cream have to be so hard? Regardless of the amount of planning and the number of test shots I do, I still find that once I pull the ice-cream from the freezer, I am practically in panic mode trying to get a few useable shots. I swear ice-cream melts faster when you are wanting to photograph it.
If it weren’t for a tripod and some photo editing magic, yesterday would have been a total loss. OK, maybe not a total loss. After all, I did get some of the best tasting homemade ice-cream out of the deal.
The caramel goodness of this dulce de leche ice-cream made all the frantic running around worthwhile. Fortunately, you won’t have to run all over to enjoy this creamy deliciousness. With only four ingredients, the batter is extremely easy to make.
What is dulce de leche
Dulce de leche is a thick caramel-like sauce made by slowing cooking milk and sugar together for a really long time until a thick sauce forms. Some recipes call for making dulce de leche using sweetened condensed milk which shortens the cooking time a bit but is still a slow process. I, honestly, just buy pre-made dulce de leche to keep things easy.
Nut or No Nuts
While the ice-cream freezes, you can make the toasted salted pecans (or skip the pecans entirely if you want). The original recipe called for mixing toasted pecans into the ice-cream batter while it was churning. However, since not everyone in my house likes nuts in their ice-cream, I wanted to make the pecans be a topping rather than a mix-in. And rather than just merely toasting the pecans, I decided to make some toasted salted pecans instead. Their sweet-salty flavor is the perfect counter balance to the sweetness of the dulce de leche.
Dulce de Leche Ice-cream Topped with Toasted Salted Pecans
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes (plus chilling and freezing time)
- Yield: 1 quart
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Freezing
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy recipe for dulce de leche ice-cream needs only 4 ingredients – milk, cream, dulce de leche, and vanilla.
Ingredients
For the dulce de leche ice-cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 2/3 cups dulce de leche
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the toasted salted pecans
- 1 cup pecan halves
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably Maldon’s sea salt flakes
Instructions
For the dulce de leche ice-cream
- Make custard base. Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a saucepan over moderate heat. Remove pan from heat and carefully whisk in dulce de leche until completely dissolved (mixture will be very hot). Then, whisk in vanilla.
- Quick chill. Prepare an ice-bath. Put the saucepan in the ice bath being careful not to get any water into the ice-cream batter. Allow the saucepan to sit in the ice bath until mixture is cool, whisking occasionally.
- Chill overnight. Cover and chill the mixture thoroughly (I like to chill mine overnight).
- Freeze. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Then, transfer the ice-cream to a freezer-safe container, cover and freeze until firm, 3 to 4 hours, before serving.
For the toasted salted pecans
- Prep oven and pan. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Season pecans. In a medium bowl, stir the pecans and melted butter together. Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the nuts, stirring to coat evenly. Scrape the nuts onto the prepared baking sheet, spreading them in a single layer.
- Bake. Bake pecans for 10-15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove nuts from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Serve. Chop pecans and sprinkle over ice-cream when serving.
Notes
- Recipe for ice-cream adapted from Gourmet, May 2007.
- Recipe for pecans from Chocolate Cakes: 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion cookbook.
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