The Good Earth: Just So You Will Know...

Just so you will know, even though my last few postings have had a healthy bent, don't be deceived. There is still plenty of activity afoot in my Fairhope kitchen producing edibles with little nutritional value. I just want you to be absolutely clear.

Caramel Chocolate Chunk Pecan Ice Cream

After making about 5 or 6 batches of peach ice cream, I decided to branch out and try a new flavor. I have been convinced that the possibilities for my base recipe are endless, so I have been pondering the plethora of flavor combinations available to me. Not a chocoholic myself, I will say that I have great respect for all of you who are. I empathize with your enjoyment of--shall we say obsession with--all things chocolate. Some of you are aficionados of silky dark chocolate, others like a semi-sweet sliver here and there, and still others would have nothing other than a creamy milk chocolate. I will not turn those down, but given a choice, I will gravitate toward burnt sugar, i.e. caramel, any day. Give me toffee or heath bars or pecan praline and I am happy as a pig in slop! My favorite local ice cream purveyor, Mr. Gene's Beans, sometimes (way too rarely) has a flavor I love called Caramel Turtle Fudge. It is actually a good thing he doesn't carry it all the time, because I am not known for my ability to withstand temptation when it comes to ice cream. Naturally, one of the first recipe morphs I considered was a caramel ice cream melange of sorts.

One of my favorite food bloggers is The Amateur Gourmet and he has waxed poetic about a Barefoot Contessa recipe for caramel ice cream. I read through the recipe he was featuring and noted he mentioned how soft it was when it came out of the ice cream maker, showing a picture of the results looking downright soupy. My hunch was that I could make caramel (basically burned sugar) and mix it into the same base I use for my peach ice cream and come up with a fairly creamy frozen dessert right out of the ice cream maker. No doubt it would be better after spending a little "time out" in the freezer, but I would put money on my chances at getting a pretty good version right out of the ice cream freezer. Just to keep you hooked so that you will read to the end and perhaps try it yourself, it was outstanding! Here is how it works:

Caramel Chocolate Chunk Pecan Ice Cream
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 tsp. (1/2 package) Knox gelatin
1 egg
1-1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 cups cream
1 Tb. vanilla
1 3-1/2 ounce bar of chocolate
2/3 cup chopped pecans

1. Whisk the buttermilk and gelatin together and warm on top of a double boiler or in a stainless steel bowl placed over a small saucepan until gelatin is dissolved and buttermilk is steaming.

2. Whisk egg in a small bowl. Mix the hot buttermilk mixture into the egg a little at a time until about half of the buttermilk is mixed into the egg. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan with remaining buttermilk and warm until it is thickened, about 5 minutes, whisking constantly to keep the mixture smooth. Remove from the heat.

3. In another saucepan, mix the sugar and water and begin to heat over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Watch this sugar mixture very carefully. It will take up to about 7 minutes to caramelize. It is ready when it takes on a deep amber color and that will happen quite quickly. Remove from heat.

Not Ready

Amber and Ready

4. Off the heat, begin to pour the cream into the caramelized sugar. The sugar will seize up as you do this. Don't be alarmed. Just return to medium heat and whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the cream is a lovely caramel color.

5. Now, mix the buttermilk/egg/gelatin mixture together with the cream/sugar mixture. Add the vanilla.

You will miss a golden opportunity
if you don't grab a spoon right now and sample!

6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very, very cold. Plan ahead! This step will take about 3 hours. To speed the process, you can place it in the freezer for awhile. But whisk it around often so it cools evenly and doesn't freeze around the sides.

7. Chop chocolate into small pieces. I used Scharffen Berger semi-sweet 62 percent chocolate. Next time, I will probably try milk chocolate. The ice cream and semi-sweet chocolate are both so rich, I think a milk chocolate might mellow it a bit. But if you LOVE a darker chocolate as I do, go for it! Do use a high quality chocolate.

8. Toast the pecans on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees until they are lightly browned. Let cool. Combine the chocolate and the pecans in a plastic bag and place in the freezer until ready to use. (Don't combine these two until the pecans are completely cool or it will melt the chocolate.)

9. When cream mixture is very cool, process in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. When ice cream is in its last few minutes of churning, add the chocolate and pecans.

When it is done it will be very creamy and quite ready to eat as is. As a matter of fact, I ate it just like this with a spoon right out of the container.