Recipe 31: Caramel Apple Ice Cream

In the about six and a half months I’ve been making ice cream, I’ve come across some recipes that just don’t quite work out the way they should.  This week’s recipe, Caramel Apple Ice Cream, was a bit of a mixed bag.  The actual flavor of the ice cream was excellent, just a wonderful combination of cream, sugar, caramel, apple, and spices that I absolutely loved.  It was a great variation of apple pie with ice cream and one I want to make again.  On the other hand, adding the apple pieces was a poor choice.  I cut the pieces too big, and they prevented the ice cream from churning well and got icy and hard in the freezer, so while I’m going to write down the recipe the way I found it here at All Recipes/the way I modified it this time, first I’m going to give you a few tips so your recipe can go a little bit better than mine did.

1. Cut your apples very fine into no larger than ¼” size pieces.
2. Cook the apples until soft.  Don’t turn them into applesauce, but they need to be soft and squishy.
3. Don’t add all the apples into your base.  Put about half of them in and reserve the other half for serving.  This will allow your ice cream to churn properly and give you chewy apple bits.

If you keep these simple tips in mind, you should get a great flavor and chewy apple bits with an even texture.  And with this delicious base, it’ll only make your ice cream better.

Ingredients

• 2 cups finely chopped, peeled cooking apples (I used 4 Granny Smith apples)
• 2+ tablespoons butter (more as needed)
• 1 cup apple cider/”raw” apple juice (this is apple juice with pulp floating in it)
• 8 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice/ground cinnamon
• If you don’t have apple pie spice, add a dash of ground nutmeg and ground cloves as well
• 1/3+ cup caramel topping (more as needed)

Directions

1. Cook apples in butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.  Stir in apple cider and spices; cover and simmer for at least 5 minutes or until soft.
2. Once apples are soft, set aside half for step 3 and half for serving.
3. Whisk sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, and cream in a bowl until well blended.  Slowly stir in apple mixture.
4. Chill base until cold – at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. Once base is cold, pour into an ice cream canister and churn according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. When base is almost ready, add about 3 tablespoons of caramel.  Allow the base to finish churning.
7. Once base is churned, transfer to a freezer-safe, sealable container.  Drizzle caramel between scoops and layers.  Press a sheet of cling wrap directly against the surface and seal the container.  Freeze until firm – at least 4 hours. 

The resulting ice cream will be a wonderful treat and a great addition to any meal, especially summer holidays and barbeques.  The base will be thick, creamy, and syrupy and taste strongly of apple pie.  It pairs especially well with plain vanilla ice cream and apple crisp, and adding extra caramel, sweetened condensed milk, and apple chunks on top just increases its deliciousness.  Having the apple chunks in the base was nice, but until I get their size and consistency right, I don’t have anything really positive to say about them.  However, I can say that this is definitely an ice cream that deserves another try and a little bit of tweaking and that you should totally try.  It’s everything great about apple pie in one sweet, melty spoonful.  So enjoy!

Overview

• Base prep time: 30 minutes
• Base chill time: at least 4 hours
• Ice cream set time: at least 4 hours
• Taste: sweet and syrupy with strong, flavorful apple and spice notes; however, the apple chunks are a bit hard and tart
• Difficulty: low to medium
• Expense level: medium
• Makes: approximately 6 cups