The ice cream is smooth with a caramel tone from the brown sugar that is accented by the summer fruit compote. A great dessert!
This dessert was the highlight of one of those great days, which I might even call perfect.
My kitchen was as tidy as it can be, given the fact that I'm a hoarder of all things food related, from ingredients to gadgets to appliances; and I'm not including cookbooks, magazines, recipes, and blogs here because that is a post for another life. Well, it turns out they were pretty organized too.
I had already gone to the supermarket and it was overflowing with fresh cherries, pineapples, plums, peaches, and apricots, which then were overflowing my fridge. I was even having a very good hair day.
And then I remembered I had the brown sugar ice cream in the freezer. Could the day be any better? I was even going to make them a killer dessert.
As bright as these past days and weeks were, my dessert repertoire has included a lot of brown lately. I started with bourbon brown butter pecan pie, brown sugar cheesecake, brown sugar loaf with ginger syrup, and now brown sugar ice cream.
And you know what, they are turning out to be crowd favorites.
I found this recipe in Bon Appetit, and my idea was to serve it with a peach cobbler.
Today there was no time for that and I had so many fresh fruits I wanted to use them all. And I'm on a wok kick, so I used it to make dessert. Fruit in the wok. Caramelized in brown butter. With ice cream.
The ice cream has a very interesting caramel flavor with a molasses undertone, because what is brown sugar if not white sugar with molasses, right? So there is a slightly bitter aftertaste in the middle of that sweetness. I guess it's the perfect base to add some spices and make gingerbread ice cream.
So the caramelized fruits with brown sugar ice cream were the perfect end to a great meal and some well spent hours with dear friends. A perfect day in so many ways.
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Brown Sugar Ice Cream (old-fashioned)
Ingredients
For the brown sugar ice cream:
- 2 cups milk, whole
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 6 egg yolks, large, at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Make sure your ice cream bowl is frozen before starting the recipe.
For the brown sugar ice cream:
- Combine 2 cups milk and 2 cups heavy cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
- Meanwhile, put 1 cup brown sugar in a clean saucepan larger than the one with the milk, and melt over medium heat. It will be grainy at first and will start to come together and deepen in color. Be careful not to burn it. When it's a deep brown, which will be a few minutes since it's already brown, remove from heat and add the milk mixture. It will bubble up furiously. Be careful. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula with a long handle.
- Return to low heat and stir until the caramel is completely melted.
- In a large bowl, whisk 6 egg yolks to mix.
- Very slowly add the hot caramel mixture, just a bit at a time at first, so you don't curdle the eggs. Whisk constantly while adding the rest of the milk mixture and return to the same pan where you made the caramel.
- Cook it over low heat for about 5 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Be careful not to let it boil.
- Strain through a fine mesh to catch any curdled bits and transfer to a clean bowl. Add ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract and pinch sea salt if using. Let it cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until very cold if needed for your ice cream machine (it might take several hours).
- Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.
- Transfer to a metal or freezer-safe container and freeze for several hours until solid.
Notes
Nutrition
Ice cream barely adapted from Bon Appetit magazine, august 1996
mjskit says
You could have stopped at the brown sugar ice cream and I would have been quite happy! But then you had to go and add the fruit! If I could find fresh fruit this time of year, I'd be making this in today. However, since I have no problems eating ice cream in the winter, the ice cream is still doable. You're friends were quite lucky!
Marina@Picnic at Marina says
Caramelized fruits sounds fantastic!
Mica ♥ Imprimerie says
Brown sugar ICE CREAM and caramelized fruit? You got me at brown sugar 😀
Gloria says
look absolutely delicious!
Lizzy Do says
WOW...I love everything about this!!! I must make this when the weather warms up!
yummychunklet says
Oh, yum! This whole dessert sounds amazing.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
Brown sugar ice cream sounds incredible!
Laura Dembowski says
I love when a day is pure perfection! I have to admit I'm quite jealous of your beautiful stone fruit. I can't wait until it's summer again here. Too bad I have a long winter to go.
Patty says
wow, love all those luscious fruits with your brown sugar ice cream-now I'm missing our summer;-)
Kathy says
Oh Paula, does this look good! Brown sugar ice cream…yummy!
SchweetLife says
This looks good! A touch of cinnamon might be a nice addition for the ice cream.
Medeja says
It's so hot here these days that I would be more than happy to have at least one spoon of this ice cream. Ok, 1 spoon wouldn't be enough, but still.. 😀 Sounds wonderful!
e / dig in says
you had a fabulous day! that fruit looks amazing. it would be great to have it with a light crisp crumble topping, or even just some toasted flaked almonds.
Guru Uru says
What a gorgeous festive dessert my friend 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Kalyn Denny says
Oh my, this sounds so good.
Cocoa and Lavender says
Wow - this sounds amazing! I think brown sugar or brown butter ANYthing would work for me. Don't you love perfect days? ~ David
Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez says
Seriously, this could turn any bad day upside down - it looks AMAZING! I'm a huge brown sugar-anything fan, but I've never tried brown sugar ice cream. On my list!
Renee Dobbs says
Oh Paula, I just love that you love brown sugar and much as I do. What a great ice cream!!! I am saving this recipe.
Silvia says
Graet and delicious idea, Paula !
Baker Street says
Oh Yum! I don't think I've ever tried brown sugar ice cream! The caramelized fruits sound like a perfect match. 🙂